eSignature Presentation for Procurement Online

Eprocurement refers to the electronic process of acquiring goods and services. airSlate SignNow enhances eprocurement by streamlining the document signing process, allowing businesses to quickly and securely manage purchase orders and contracts online.

By integrating airSlate SignNow into your eprocurement process, you can minimize paperwork and administrative costs. The platform's efficiency reduces delays and errors, ultimately leading to signNow cost savings on procurement operations.

airSlate SignNow offers robust features for eprocurement, including customizable templates, secure electronic signatures, and real-time tracking of document status. These features enable seamless procurement workflows and ensure compliance throughout the process.

Yes, airSlate SignNow is designed for easy integration with various eprocurement systems. It can connect with popular software solutions, allowing for a smooth transition and enhanced functionality of your procurement processes.

airSlate SignNow prioritizes the security of your eprocurement documents by utilizing advanced encryption and authentication protocols. This ensures that sensitive information remains protected throughout the signing process.

By using airSlate SignNow in your eprocurement workflow, collaboration becomes more efficient. Team members can easily share documents, provide feedback, and make decisions in real-time, all while having access to the most recent versions of each document.

airSlate SignNow offers flexible pricing tiers to accommodate different business sizes and needs. These packages are tailored to suit various eprocurement requirements, allowing you to choose a plan that fits your budget and usage.

Any industry involving a large amount of paperwork make use electronic signatures. In other words, all industries make use of electronic signatures because all of them have piles of paperwork to handle. Some examples of such industries include financial, life science, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.Industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, have a number of licenses and other paperwork that they have to handle and keep track of. It can be a tedious task to perform such cumbersome paper processes. Therefore, e-signatures can facilitate an organisation in keeping a track of all this paperwork, by signing electronically.Healthcare industries usually involve time-sensitive documents, which need to be urgently completed. But, it can take days in case of the traditional wet ink paper signatures for the documents to signNow the signer and back, if the parties are geographically scattered. But with electronic signatures, that is not the case. Geographical barriers do not play a role. Documents which earlier needed days to be completed, can now be signed and sent back within minutes, in the click of a button. Furthermore, it takes a long time to bring assets under management. The time taken by the signing process, if wet ink paper signatures are used, may even further delay the process. But by using electronic signatures, the whole process can speed up.Apart from these, there are many paper prone industries which require huge amount of paperwork and with the use of electronic signatures they can make their everyday processes smoother and more efficient.

Aadhaar does not distribute a "card" in the classical definition of a card. It is rather a 12 digit number that is provided against your biometric data "after" the same has been reduplicated. This means that the number is unique and associated with you and you alone. The Aadhaar number on its own does NOT provide any rights, citizenship or guarantees. It only assures that this is unique and belongs to you and you alone.The NPR  - or National Population Register is a database of Indian Nationals - that uses the biometric reduplicated number of Aadhaar and provides one with a place in the National Population Register i.e. Indian National status.The Multipurpose National Identity card - will be a smart card that will be issued to all people who are in the National Population Register i.e. Indian Nationals.

Click here for digital signatureClass 3 Digital Signature Use for all Type UsesA Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is essential for companies and organizations that take part or intend to take part in eTendering processes on various Government sites. Besides enabling eTendering which is extremely convenient and transparent, a Digital Signature Certificate also ensure greater security in other online transactions.Digital Signature Certificate and e-Tenderinge-Procurement facilitates, integrates, and streamlines procurement processes. From buyer to supplier and even back. Approved under the Information Technology Act, and with legal status, a Digital Signature Certificate is essential for all e-Procurement processes.Applying for a government tender online has many advantages. Since documents are uploaded to a central site, acknowledgements and receipts are provided immediately. Which is not the case with paper documents that need to be scanned and verified before being processed.e-Procurement has gained signNow popularity and acceptance as it brings greater transparency to the whole system. Among other benefits, it helps buyers and bidders overcome geographical limitations, reduce procurement cycles, and overall helps keep pace with present technology.Any organisation that is looking to apply for any Government eTender needs to have a Class 3 Digital Signature Certificate registered in the name of a representative who is authorised to submit online offers for e-Tendering applications.

eTendering made possible with Digital Signature Certificate.A Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is essential for companies and organizations that take part or intend to take part in eTendering processes on various Government sites. Besides enabling eTendering which is extremely convenient and transparent, a Digital Signature Certificate also ensures greater security in other online transactions.Digital Signature Certificate and e-Tenderinge-Procurement facilitates, integrates, and streamlines procurement processes. From buyer to supplier and even back. Approved under the Information Technology Act, and with legal status, a Digital Signature Certificate is essential for all e-Procurement processes.Applying for a government tender online has many advantages. Since documents are uploaded to a central site, acknowledgements and receipts are provided immediately. Which is not the case with paper documents that need to be scanned and verified before being processed.e-Procurement has gained signNow popularity and acceptance as it brings greater transparency to the whole system. Among other benefits, it helps buyers and bidders overcome geographical limitations, reduce procurement cycles, and overall helps keep pace with present technology.Any organisation that is looking to apply for any Government eTender needs to have a Class 3 Digital Signature Certificate registered in the name of a representative who is authorised to submit online offers for e-Tendering applications.Click here for digital signature

What is a Digital Signature Certificate?A digital signature is a mathematical scheme that validates the integrity or authenticity of a given digital document or digital message. Digital signature certificates are the electronic or digital equivalent of paper certificates. Digital signature certificates validate your digital signature and for affixing digital signatures to e-documents digital signature certificates are required. Generally certificates are used to prove the identity of a person for particular purpose like driving license or passport or pan card or others. Similarly digital signature certificates are used to prove the identity of the person digitally to avail information or services on the internet and to sign certain documents digitally.Check Here : Digital Signature Certificate PriceWhat are the types of Digital Signature Certificates?There are three types of digital signature certificates depending on the validation of identity and type of use. They are:Class I DSC – Individuals get it for validating the email identification of the users and in situations where risk is minimal and here the signature is stored in software.Class II DSC – Business organizations or individuals use this digital signature certificate to validate the information given by the subscriber in the application against the information available in a trusted consumer database and in other such situations where security risk is moderate. In this case a hardware cryptographic device is used for storing the signature.Class III DSC – This digital certificate is directly issued by the signNowing authority and it is required that the person applying for DSC must be present at the signNowing authority’s premises and prove his/her identity in front of the authority and the security risk involved in this case is very high. In this case also a hardware cryptographic device is used for storing the signature.How to get a Digital Signature?A licensed authority also called as Certification Authority (CA) that has been granted the license to issue digital signature certificates by the Government of India can issue digital signature certificate under the Information Technology Act 2000. You should pay a specified fee and submit certain documents for obtaining DSC from CA. The e-KYC documents will fetch your DSC on the same day from CA. The documents are:Self-attested PAN card as identity proof.Voter ID card or driving license or passport or latest utility bill as address proof.The Necessity of Digital Signature CertificatesFor e-filing of the income tax returns by any individual, the Government of India has made it mandatory to affix digital signatures to the income tax returns documents. For affixing the digital signature one must have digital signature certificates issued by licensed certification authority.In addition, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has set the mandatory guidelines for the companies directing them to file all reports, applications and forms using a digital signature only and this again requires a digital signature certificate.For GST also a company must verify its GST application by affixing a digital signature using digital signature certificate in order to get registered for GST.These days many Government procedures, filling different applications, amendments and forms require digital signatures made by using digital signature certificates.Benefits of Digital Signature CertificatesSaves Money & Time: As there is no need of physical presence you can digitally sign your PDF files and other documents using DSC anywhere & anytime. You need not sign your paper documents and then scan them to send them across through internet if you follow the above given option. You can save the money which would otherwise be spent on printing and scanning the document. You can also go green by saving paper.Secured Data: The digitally signed documents are tamper proof as the digital signatures are secured with a private key and public key and they cannot be edited after digitally signing the document.Authentic: Digitally signed documents are authentic and the receiver can be completely sure about the sender’s identity and integrity. The receiver can easily execute the information in the document without worrying about the document being forged.What is the Validity of Digital Signature Certificates?The digital signature certificates in India issued by licensed signNowing authority approved by Ministry of Information & Technology are valid in India as per the ‘Information Technology Act 2000’. The DSC’s come with an explicit starting date & explicit expiration date. Usually the expiration time for standard digital signature certificates issued by CA will be from 1 year to 2 years. The digital signature certificates are managed by Certificate Revocation List (CRL) based on expiration date. An Indian national can have two DSC’s, one for his personal identification and another one for official identification.Check Here : Digital Signature Certificate Price

There are offline and online both options to open an NPS accountOffline Process to open an NPS account:Download the Subscriber Registration formFill up the relevant details like Name, Date of Birth, and Gender, PAN no etc. and attach photographs.Enclose Know Your Customer (KYC) documentsOnce the form is filled, submit the form to the nearest Point of Presence (POP) – SP (Service Provider). To see the nearest POP, click here.After the account is opened, you will receive a “Welcome Kit” with unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) Card and the complete information which you have provided in the Subscriber Registration form.Online Process to open an NPS account:You can open NPS account either by bank account and PAN no or ADHAAR numberOpen the linkYou have to be ready with your mail id and mobile with you for registrationThe information is to be filled up same as offline mode.If you are opening the NPS account with PAN and bank account, PRAN will be available subject to KYC verification by the banks. Total of 23 banks are listed which agree to verify the KYC for NPS.Scan and Upload your photograph and signature. It is not mandatory if you try with ADHAAR.Make online payment a minimum Rs 500.After the account is opened, you will receive a “Welcome Kit” with unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) Card and the complete information which you have provided in the Subscriber Registration form. You will also get internet pin and telephone pin within 15 days of application.For more details visit How to Open an NPS Account

Selected Interview QuestionsCandidate: 00101.Why you are willing to join in a bank?I am willing to join in a bank since I hope that I may be having more opportunities to serve the public. Banks have better career opportunities by means of periodical promotions to higher cadre.02.What do you mean by appraisal of gold loans?Gold loans are granted against the security of gold jewellery namely gold chains, necklaces etc., The jewellery apart from gold contains certain amount of copper and stones. Appraiser is a person well versed in the art of appraising the jewellery and on appraisal of the je...

This is a long answer.I may be violating copyright law. But I think it is necessary.This question has been blown out of proportion. I am directly quoting the relevant sections- without any editing-from former election commissioner book.Read both Technical security aspects and administrative security aspects. Those who say that give me EVM and I will hack it ignore the administrative security aspects is like saying give me a gun and remove the security of Prime Minister and I can Kill him.Link of the book:English:Buy An Undocumented Wonder: The Great Indian Election Book Online at Low Prices in IndiaHindi:Buy Loktantra Ke Utsav Ki Unkahi Kahani (A Undocumented Wonder) (Hindi) Book Online at Low Prices in IndiaBelow are the sections from the book:Electronic Voting MachinesHistory and BackgroundNo presentation on the use of technology in Indian elections can be complete without a reference to EVMs. The voting system in India has undergone several changes over the decades. During the first two general elections to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957, each candidate was allotted a separate coloured ballot box. The candidate’s name and symbol were not printed on ballot papers. Voters would drop an unmarked ballot paper in the ballot box of the candidate of their choice. The system, though very simple, evoked fears of tampering in the minds of stakeholders. Therefore, a marking system on the ballot paper was introduced during the mid-term elections to the Legislative Assemblies in Kerala and Odisha in 1960–61. That system remained in vogue until the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.Meanwhile, in 1977 the Commission introduced some form of electronic machines for recording votes in an error-free manner and removing the possibilities of invalid votes. S.L. Shakdhar, the then Chief Election Commissioner, while on tour in Hyderabad in December1977 requested M/s Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) to study the feasibility of using an electronic gadget for conducting elections. M/s Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru (BEL) had already developed microcomputer based voting equipment, which they had used for the elections for the various unions of the company. They approached the Commission in January 1981 for manufacturing EVMs. On 29 July 1981 the Commission held a meeting with representatives from BEL, ECIL, the Ministry of Law and some CEOs regarding the use of EVMs in elections. It was decided to introduce EVMs in fifty polling stations in the 70-Parur assembly constituency in the assembly elections to the Legislative Assembly of Kerala held on 19 May 1982 as an experimental measure (the machines used had eight candidate buttons in the ballot unit (BU) instead of the sixteen candidate buttons as in existing EVMs. However, seven such BUs could be connected in series to provide for a maximum of fifty-six candidates).Since the central government could not take steps to introduce legislation as proposed by the Commission for amendments to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and to the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 to facilitate the use of EVMs, the Commission issued directives under Article 324 of the Constitution of India for the use of EVMs and conducted elections at fifty polling stations using the machines. The use of EVMs was challenged in court and the Supreme Court of India* held that EVMs cannot be used in an election unless a specific provision is made in law providing for their use. The law was amended by Parliament in December 1988 and a new Section 61A was added in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, empowering the Commission to use voting machines. The amended provision came into force on 15 March 1989.In January 1990 the Government of India appointed the Electoral Reforms Committee (Dinesh Goswami Committee) consisting of representatives from several recognized national and state parties. The Electoral Reforms Committee felt that the machines should be examined by technical experts with a view to removing any doubts or misapprehensions in the minds of the public with regard to the credibility of the working of the machines. To do so it constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of S. Sampath, Chairman, TAC, Defence Research & Development Organization, Ministry of Defence, and comprising reputed scientist P.V. Indiresan of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and Rao C. Kasarbada, Director, ER&DC, Trivandrum. The committee, after meeting with the manufacturers, election administrators and technical experts and conducting detailed laboratory tests, came to the conclusion that the EVM was a secure system. In April 1990, therefore, the expert committee unanimously recommended the use of EVMs without further loss of time.On 24 March 1992 necessary amendments to the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961 were notified by the government with regard to the use of EVMs. EVMs have been used in all bye-elections to parliamentary constituencies and Legislative Assembly constituencies since November 1998. The general elections to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009 were conducted exclusively on EVMs. Several technological changes were made in EVMs in 2001 and again in 2006 to upgrade them. To address the concern that the fast changing technology may have overtaken older members, the Technical Experts Committee was expanded and it now has P.V. Indiresan as its Chairman, and D.T. Shahaniand, A.K. Aggarwala of IIT, Delhi, D.K. Sharma of IIT, Mumbai and Rajat Moona from IIT, Kanpur (now DG, CDAC) as its members. The Commission does not take any technical decision without their recommendation or approval.Types of Electronic VotingAcross the world, electronic voting is essentially of two types. First and most commonly used is polling place e-voting. The second is remote e-voting online which has been used only experimentally in some countries like Switzerland, Canada, Estonia and Spain. Moreover, EVMs used in polling place e-voting are of two types, Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines (DR-EVM) and those using optical scanners. When a voter presses a button on the DR-EVM his vote is recorded electronically in the machine’s memory. EVMs used in India, Venezuela and Brazil fall in this category. In the other type a voter marks his choice on a paper ballot which is then optically scanned and the counting is done electronically. Some states in the US use this type of machine. Direct recording voting machines can either have electro-mechanical buttons or a touch-screen to record votes. These can either be stand-alone or networked. Networked machines can transmit results to a central server to compile results quickly and display them at a central website. Indian EVMs are direct recording voting machines with electro-mechanical buttons for voters and are non-networked. Counting is done separately by each machine and the result from all machines is compiled manually.Security Features in Indian EVMsTechnical Security—ECI-EVMs are manufactured by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (Department of Atomic Energy) and Bharat Electronics Limited (Ministry of Defence), both central public sector undertakings which are entrusted with developing high security defence equipment. The machines are both mechanically and electronically protected to prevent any tampering. The software used in these machines is burnt into a one-time programmable/masked chip so that it cannot be altered or tampered with. These machines are not networked either by wire or by wireless with any other machine or system.Therefore, there is no possibility of data corruption by hacking. The software for this chip is developed in-house by BEL and ECIL independently. The software development team is separate from the production team and reports directly to the CMD.Operationally, the Indian EVM is a set of two units—the ballot unit and the control unit. A vote can be recorded only after the presiding officer enables the ballot unit through the control unit. However, even the presiding officer cannot enable the ballot for twelve seconds after every ballot is cast. Thus, a maximum of five votes can be cast in one minute. Samples of EVMs from production batches are regularly checked for functionality by the quality assurance group which is an independent group within BEL and ECIL. Certain additional security features were introduced in 2006. These include dynamic coding between the ballot unit and the control unit, installing a real-time clock, installing a full display system, and date and time stamping of every key press.Administration Security Measures for EVMsThe Commission has put in place elaborate procedural checks and balances aimed at preventing any possible misuse or lapses.EVMs are kept in a secure room with only one double-locked door. The room is guarded twenty-four hours by armed police. The lock on the EVM warehouse is opened only after giving notice to political parties to be present at the time of unlocking.First level checking (FLC) of each EVM is done before elections by BEL and ECIL. FLC is done transparently in the presence of representatives of political parties. A mock poll by casting at least a thousand votes in at least 10 per cent (now reduced to 5 per cent after political parties found 10 per cent too cumbersome) of EVMs randomly selected by political parties is done at the time of FLC. After the mock poll, a sequential printout of the result is taken and shown to the political parties for comparing the record of the mock poll kept by them. The entire FLC process is videographed. After the FLC every EVM is sealed using a pink paper seal manufactured by the Security Printing Press, Nasik, using security paper and security printing technology. Every pink paper seal has a unique number. Representatives of political parties put their signatures on the pink paper seal. After it has been sealed thus, the plastic cover of the machine cannot be opened during the election without breaking it. Any machine with a broken or damaged seal will not be used.EVMs are randomized by the District Election Officer before being distributed in the assembly constituencies in the presence of representatives of recognized political parties, to guard against the possibility of anyone manipulating the software.Preparing EVMs for candidates’ setting is done in the presence of the candidates or their agents or authorized representatives, and in the presence of the Commission’s observer. At this stage, once again, a mock poll is conducted.Multi-level thread sealing of various compartments and sections is done at the time of candidates’ setting as:Thread seal for the ‘candidate set’ and power pack (battery) section of the control unit after setting the number of contesting candidates and installing the battery respectively.Thread seal for ballot paper screen of the ballot unit after fixing the ballot paper.Two thread seals for ballot paper cover of the balloting unit.After this, the returning officers do the second randomization of the Control Units (CUs) and Balloting Units (BUs) to allot a CU and BU to specific polling stations.These CUs/BUs are then stored in a strongroom in the presence of the candidates/their agents and the Commission’s observer. The candidates/their agents are allowed to put their seals on the lock to the strongroom.The strongroom is opened in the presence of candidates/ their agents and the observer on the day when polling parties are dispatched to their respective polling stations.Before the actual poll, a mock poll of at least 100 votes is done by the presiding officer in the presence of candidates or their authorized agents to demonstrate that the EVM is working properly.Sealing of the result section/bottom compartment of the control units is done by the presiding officer after the mock poll in the presence of polling agents with the following seals:Green paper seal for result sectionThread seal for inner door of result sectionThread seal for the bottom compartmentThread seal for connector box for the cascading balloting unit, if any (when there are more than sixteen candidates)After the poll, the EVMs are sealed with paper seals and packed in plastic boxes, which are also sealed. These EVMs are taken straight to the strongroom from the polling stations. The strongroom is closed and sealed in the presence of the candidates/their agents and the Commission’s observer. They are permitted to affix their own seals on the locks of the strongroom and are allowed to guard it till the counting begins. They are provided facilities for this purpose. In addition, an armed police guard keeps round the clock vigil. Arrangements are also made for video coverage and CCTV coverage of the strongroom round the clock.The storage hall so sealed is opened in the presence of the candidates/their agents and the Commission’s observer on the day of counting.Controversies about EVMsEarly ControversiesBefore the elections in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, General Secretary of the AIADMK, had written a letter to the Commission to discard EVMs and use paper ballots in the state assembly elections in 2001 on the grounds that electronic devices had failed miserably even in scientifically and technologically advanced countries like the US and Japan. She also filed a W.P. No. 3346 of 2001 in the High Court of Chennai. The case finally went to the Supreme Court where it was decided in favour of EVMs.Captain Amrinder Singh, President, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, raised objections in a petition before the Punjab High Court prior to assembly elections in 2002. He sent a team of experts to the Election Commission, as directed by the High Court, to examine the machines. The experts could not come up with any concrete objection even after detailed examination of the EVMs.Satinath Choudhary, a computer scientist in the USA and the President of Better Democracy Forum, could not demonstrate any tamperability of EVMs in a demonstration session on alleged tamperability of ECI–EVMs on 8 August 2009 in the premises of the Election Commission of India.A demonstration session on alleged tamperability of ECI–EVMs by one Haneefa (who, incidentally, wanted to promote his own machine) was held on 12 October 2007 in Bangalore. He could not demonstrate any malfunction or tamperability and was fined by the court.Recent ControversiesThe Commission also received petitions from individuals raising doubts about the non-tamperability of EVMs. These include Kirit Somaiya of the Bharatiya Janata Party, G.K. Mani, President, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Omesh Saigal, retired Chief Secretary of Delhi, Subramaniyam Swami, President Janata Party and Satinath Chowdhery.Rashtriya Janata Dal, All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, All India Forward Bloc, Asom Gana Parishad, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Indian National Lok Dal, Janata Dal United, Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Samajwadi Party wrote a letter to the Commission requesting an all-party meeting on EVMs. The BJP also made the same request in a separate letter. The Commission held an all-party meeting on 4 October 2010 in which EVMs were discussed along with three other issues—monitoring expenditure, paid news and criminalization of politics. Most of the political parties expressed satisfaction with EVMs. Some political parties requested the Commission that the Expert Committee may be asked to examine the feasibility of introducing a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with the EVMs.A programme on a Telugu TV Channel TV-9 by V.V. Rao and Hariprasad made a demonstration of alleged tamperability of EVMs on an EVM allegedly stolen from the office of the DEO, Mumbai. An FIR for theft of public property was registered. The trial in the case is ongoing.The main points raised by people alleging tamperability and the reasons why these are not acceptable include:It has been alleged that there is a possibility of the presence of a Trojan horse in an EVM. However, there is no such possibility because the software code is secret and not readable by anybody. The software programmers are of very high integrity. EVMs are manufactured by reputed public sector organizations and have proved very reliable. Every EVM is subjected to rigorous checks before deployment in the presence of political party representatives.It has been alleged that there is lack of voter verifiability in EVMs. The fact is that the voter verifies his or her ballot by a beep and by a LED getting lit next to the candidate’s button on the BU once the button is pressed.Some people say that there is a lack of a possibility of recount. The fact is that a recount is possible any number of times. There will not be any variance in the result displayed as there are no human errors in machine counting.Possibility of change of components (hardware hacking) has been mentioned. The fact is that after FLC an EVM is sealed and its inside cannot be accessed, making hardware hacking impossible.It was shown on television that the display on an EVM can be controlled from another Bluetooth device by passing the data in the EVM. This is not possible in a real election because in a real election nobody has access to EVMs and it is not possible to introduce a Bluetooth device in an EVM because of administrative safeguards and security.It was shown in the same television programme that using a chip on the memory, he could access and change the data in the memory of the EVM. This cannot be done in a real election because nobody can access the memory in an EVM without breaking open all its seals. A broken seal can be easily identified. If a seal is found broken or damaged, the machine is not used.Voter Verifiable Paper Audit TrailThe demand for a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in the EVMs has been around for some years. VVPAT allows voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results. It includes a direct recording electronic voting machine (DRE) and a printer to print the ballot recorded in the electronic memory. It was first demonstrated in New York City in March 2001 and first used in Sacramento, California in 2002. In a VVPAT system the voter can review a physical ballot to confirm that the electronic voting system accurately recorded his or her vote. In addition, the election officials may manually recount ballots in the event of a dispute.The demand was referred to the Technical Experts Committee by the Commission, as suggested in the all-party meeting held by the Election Commission. The committee anticipated several technical problems in a VVPAT system, including:Possibility of the printer getting jammedRequirement of a large battery to operate the printer, which is difficult to maintain and chargeRequirement of special technical training for all polling personnelLonger time required per voterHigher costsIlliteracy in large sections of the population making it difficult for them to read the printoutPossibility of fading of the printout in a thermal paper printerThe Technical Expert Committee held consultations with political parties, civil society organizations and manufacturers of EVMs, and also saw a demonstration of the prototype VVPAT system developed by EVM manufacturers. The Technical Expert Committee recommended that a field trial of the system should be held in extreme environmental conditions.A field trial was accordingly conducted in Thiruvananthapuram (coastal area in Kerala), Delhi (capital of India), Jaisalmer (hot, desert region in Rajasthan), Cherapunji (in Meghalaya, receives highest rainfall in the world) and Leh (snowbound region in Jammu & Kashmir) in July 2011 in the presence of all stakeholders including political parties, civil society organizations and the media. The Commission issued a press note for wide participation of voters. It was found that certain improvements were required in the VVPAT system before it could be considered for use in an election. The Commission asked EVM manufacturers to carry out the design changes required.Thereafter, the manufacturers made several important changes in the design and produced an improved prototype. The Technical Experts Committee recommended that it should be tested in the field once again at the same places where the first field trial was held. Accordingly, the second field trial was held in July–August 2012, again in the presence of all stakeholders.The Technical Expert Committee approved the final design of the VVPAT units in a meeting held on 19 February 2013. The system was demonstrated in another all-party meeting held on 10 May 2013. All political parties recommended that VVPAT should be used in elections as soon as possible. The Commission decided to use the system initially in a bye-election. Accordingly, the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, was amended and notified on 14 August, 2013, allowing for the use of VVPAT along with EVMs in elections, and it was first used on 4 September 2013 in a bye-election for 51-Noksen (ST) assembly constituency in Nagaland.Subsequently, it has been used successfully in ten assembly constituencies in Mizoram on 25 November 2013 and one constituency of Delhi on 4 December 2013 during general elections to Delhi assembly constituency. The Commission has now decided to gradually expand its use and has placed orders for procurement of 20,000 units of VVPAT.