The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday said it has issued a technical standard operating procedure (SOP) for checking and verification (C&V) of burnt memory/microcontroller of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), post the announcement of results of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
The EVM units include Ballot Unit (BU), Control Unit (CU) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
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According to the SOP, eligible candidates can make a choice of selection of EVMs from any polling stations of the constituency.
“Eligible candidates are empowered to give choices of polling stations or serial numbers of machines from within the assembly segment/ constituency, subject to a maximum of 5 per cent EVMs used in that AC/AS, to undergo C&V process. This will ensure that the EVMs are picked up, from across the constituency, as per choice of the applicant candidate(s) without introduction of any bias by a third party in selecting or leaving out any particular EVM,” the ECI said.
The poll panel said the eligible candidates can make a choice to mix and match EVM units for C&V.
“In para 2(b) (iii) of the Administrative SoP dated 1st June, 2024, it was already mentioned that EVMs shall be subjected to C& V as a set ie a combination of BU(s), CU and VVPAT as used in election,” it said.
As per the SOP, among others, candidates can make a choice of mock polls.
“In mock polls, the applicant candidate(s)/representative(s) can cast any number of votes subject to the maximum limit of 1,400 votes, in any sequence or pattern, as desired,” the ECI said.
Notably on 20th June, the poll panel had said it had received 11 applications for C&V of burnt memory/microcontroller of voting machines post the announcement of results of the general elections and assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
