Election Commissioner Sunil Arora Saturday said VVPATs will be used at all polling stations in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. "The use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines has been a success during elections held in the past, and keeping in view its effectiveness, the Election Commission of India is committed to provide 100 percent VVPAT machines at all the polling stations in 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he said here.

VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home.

Arora was talking to the media after a meeting with election and returning officers of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Tarntaran, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Pathankot districts to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

He was accompanied by Director, Election Commission, Nikhil Kumar and Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, S Karuna Raju.

Arora directed officers to gear up for the upcoming parliamentary polls and make preparations well in time regarding various aspects like availability of EVMs, staff training and transportation.

About the issue of paid news, he said the EC was taking all the necessary steps to curb the trend.

Arora said the commission would regularly review aspects like registration of the eligible youths as voters and voter registration of persons with special needs.

Raju assured that all preparations would be completed well in time and necessary steps would be taken to ensure that voters exercise their right to vote.

First Published:Sept 29, 2018 8:30 PM IST