The commissioning of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail units for the upcoming by-election to the 28 Koridang Assembly Constituency was carried out on March 30 at the Conference Hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Mokokchung.
According to a press note issued by the Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, the process followed the finalization of the list of contesting candidates and the second randomization of EVMs and VVPATs. The commissioning was conducted by the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officers, and involved polling station-wise preparation of machines, including installation of ballot papers in the Ballot Unit, candidate setting in the Control Unit, and symbol loading in the VVPAT.
“All the contesting candidates were requested to remain present themselves or appoint their representatives to oversee the commissioning of EVMs and VVPATS,” the note stated. Representatives of the candidates were present during the process.
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As part of the procedure, a mock poll was conducted on randomly selected five percent of the machines. A total of three EVMs and VVPATs were used, with 3000 votes cast. The electronic results were verified with the VVPAT slips, and the counts were found to match.
Following the completion of commissioning, the machines have been stored in a strong room in accordance with Election Commission of India guidelines. It was also stated that the strong room will be opened and closed in the presence of candidates or their representatives under videography on the day of dispersal.
