New Delhi: Describing the reports that the Election Commission of India identified “defective” Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines as “most serious”, the Congress party has appealed to the poll body to restore public confidence in the electoral process by responding to the issue with full transparency.Citing the report published by The Wire, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Friday, April 21, said that the poll body has found over 6.5 lakh VVPAT machines as “defective” and has sent them to manufacturers for repair.The VVPAT machines under question are the latest ‘M3’ type and were first introduced by the poll body in 2018 and used in elections since then, Khera said, adding 17.4 lakh VVPAT machines were notified for use in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.Responding to reports of “defective” VVPATs, the poll body said only 3.43 lakh VVPATs were identified for “preventive maintenance” and not 6.5 lakh as reported. The ECI sought to underline that a defective VVPAT in no way gives erroneous results but only signifies stoppage of functioning during the poll process.Calling it the “most serious issue”, the Congress leader said that nearly one-third (37%) of VVPATS used in the 2019 Lok Sabha were “defective”.“Voters in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, and subsequent Assembly elections, may have had their vote affected. VVPATs themselves were introduced as a measure to boost public confidence in EVMs. In an atmosphere of increasing questions on EVMs, defects at such a large scale require full transparency to restore public faith and trust in the electoral process,” the news agency PTI quoted Khera as saying.The Congress leader pointed out that the issue of VVPATs is only the latest in the series of events that, over the years, have eroded public confidence in the electoral process. He posed multiple questions to the ECI:“Has the EC been able to identify all machines where defects have been reported, i.e., have all VVPAT machines been tested for defects? Why were the defects not detected at the first level checks, which are in place for VVPAT machines.”Continuing further, he asked, “What additional safeguards are the EC planning to put in force in order to prevent similar incidents in the future which have far-reaching consequences on the elections? In view of the present issues raised in respect of the functioning of VVPAT machines, will the EC continue the usage of these machines in any upcoming elections?”