EC to use EVM with VVPAT in all 72,723 Bihar polling stations

The Election Commission of India Wednesday began preparations for holding general elections in Bihar next year.

The office of Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, organised a workshop on "First Level Checking (FLC) of EVM and VVPAT and accessible election" in the state capital.

All the district returning officer-cum-district magistrate, all deputy chief electoral officers, additional election officers and representatives of political parties, NGOs and others participated in the day-long workshop.

Bihar has a total of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Briefing mediapersons, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), H R Srinivasa said that the election commission has decided that EVM along with VVPAT will be used in all the 72,723 polling stations in the state.

A total of 86,000 VVPAT machines have already been brought from Bharat Engineering Ltd (BEL), the PSU which manufactures the machine, Srinivasa said adding that the office of CEO has also received EVMs in adequate numbers.

"The first level checking (FLC) of EVM (comprising ballot unit and control unit) and VVPAT are being conducted, the process of which will be completed in next one month," Srinivasa said.

After the FLC process is over, machines (EVMs) are sealed in the presence of District Magistrate, other officials, representatives of political parties, he said adding that the engineers of BEL checked the machines whether or not these are working properly.

In the first session of workshop, Commission's Under Secretary Madhusudan Gupta and National Level Master Trainer (NLMT) Atique Ahmad Siddiqui gave detailed information on the FLC of EVM and VVPAT.

They also shared technical and administrative security and awareness on EVM and VVPAT.

Once the schedule (dates) of election is declared, the commission conducts randomisation of control unit, ballot unit and VVPAT, the CEO said and added that it not known as which ballot unit or control unit or VVPAT will go to which assembly segment and on which polling station.

Assembly segment will selected in the first randomisation while polling station will be chosen in the second randomisation, he said adding that the commission has declared the year 2018 as "accessible election".

The Commission will be using IT applications like Suvidha, Sugam and Samadhan in the Lok Sabha elections besides it would also strive hard to for "ethical voting" by alienating or minimising the use of muscle and money power in elections.

The workshop also discussed the issues like people with disabilities (PwDs) and electoral awareness, he said.