As many as 30,238 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the State, said Sanjay M. Kaul, Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) on Tuesday. The CEO announced this after the second phase of randomisation of EVMs and VVPAT machines (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) to be used during the upcoming polls was held here on Tuesday. The process decides which voting machines will be assigned to each polling booth.
Further, 30,238 ballot units, 30,238 control units and 32,698 VVPAT machines will be used in 25,231 booths (comprising 25,177 booths and 54 sub-booths) in 20 constituencies in the State during the polls. The figure includes reserve machines also. In case any of any malfunctioning of the machines, reserve machines will be provided through the respective sector officers. At present, the voting machines are kept in strong rooms under the custody of Assistant Returning Officers (AROs), said the CEO.
The M3 model EVMs and VVPATs are used for all elections after 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The EVMs that were selected and kept in strong rooms after completion of first-level checks (FLC) held in the presence of political party representatives during the months of September-October last year will be used for the Lok Sabha elections. Only the EVMs that cleared the FLCs will be used in elections. The first phase of randomisation was held on March 27 to allocate EVMs at the Assembly constituency level.
The first phase randomisation was done through EVM Management System (EMS) in the presence of political party representatives and election officials. After randomisation of the serial numbers of EVMs and VVPATs using EMS software, the print out containing the serial number of the same was handed over to all the political party representatives, said a release. A list containing the unique ID number of the EVMs used in each polling booth is provided to the contesting candidates and their agents.
Mr. Kaul also informed that webcasting will be done in all the booths in the eight districts of the State during the elections. Real-time monitoring system will be installed in all booths in Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram districts. In the remaining six districts, 75 percent of the booths will have webcasting facility. But all the vulnerable booths in these districts will be under real-time monitoring.
In polling centres with multiple booths, cameras will also be installed outside the booths for crowd control. The CEO also said that the webcasting facility is being introduced to ensure transparent elections by preventing booth rigging, distribution of money, fake voting, etc. Control rooms would also be set up in the CEO’s office and District Collectorates for real-time monitoring.
