RAS question
The Election Commission uses VVPAT along with EVMs. VVPAT stands for:
Correct answer: (C) Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail.
VVPAT stands for Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, the paper-trail component used with EVMs so that a voter can verify the vote just cast.
Explanation
VVPAT is the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail used with the Election Commission of India’s EVM system. The Election Commission of India describes the ECI-EVM as comprising the Ballot Unit, Control Unit and the later-added VVPAT. When a voter presses the candidate button on the Ballot Unit, the VVPAT generates a printed slip showing the candidate’s serial number, name and symbol; the voter can see it through the transparent window for about seven seconds before it is cut and stored in the sealed drop box. This is why the phrase “paper audit trail” matters: it adds a voter-visible paper record to electronic voting, and the Supreme Court in Subramanian Swamy v. ECI mandated VVPAT use to strengthen transparency.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) “Voter Validated Paper Authentication Tool” is not the ECI expansion; it replaces “verifiable” and “audit trail,” which are central to the voter-visible paper record.
- (B) “Virtual Voting and Polling Technology” is unrelated to the ECI’s paper-slip mechanism and does not describe a paper audit trail attached to EVM voting.
- (D) “Verified Voter Paper Accountability Tracker” is a fabricated expansion and misses the official ECI wording, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail.
Concept
This tests election machinery under Indian polity and governance, especially the safeguards around EVM-based voting. It recurs in RAS because VVPAT links constitutional-election administration with transparency, voter confidence and Supreme Court-backed electoral procedure.