• Source:JND
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The Haryana State Election Commission has expressed its inability to conduct the upcoming urban local body elections, scheduled for March 2, using EVMs with VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). Without VVPATs, voters will not be able to verify whether their vote was cast for the intended candidate. 

In EVMs equipped with VVPATs, voters can view all voting details on the screen for seven seconds after casting their vote. However, the State Election Commission has stated that the EVMs are completely secure and cannot be hacked under any circumstances.

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Advocate Hemant Kumar, from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, wrote a letter to the State Election Commissioner, Dhanpat Singh, urging that the urban local body elections be held with VVPATs. In response, the State Election Commission sent a two-page written reply explaining their inability to conduct he elections with VVPATs.

The Haryana Congress party has been consistently demanding that urban local body elections be held with ballot papers, a request that has been rejected by the State Election Commission. In June 2022, the Haryana Election Commission acknowledged that the M-3 model EVMs were unavailable, which is why elections with VVPATs could not be held.

In October 2013, the Supreme Court had directed that VVPATs be used with EVMs during elections. This decision was made because several political parties raised concerns about the possibility of EVMs being hacked and alleged irregularities in elections.

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The elections in the state will be held on March 2 and March 9, covering a total of 33 urban local bodies. These include eight municipal corporations, four municipal councils and 21 municipal committees. There will also be a by-election for the mayoral positions in two municipal corporations, as well as elections for the president positions in one municipal council and two municipal committees. Additionally, by-elections are proposed for one ward in three municipal committees.