Thiruvananthapuram, April 17 (FN Bureau) In the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, 30,238 electronic voting machines will be used, Chief Electoral Officer, Sanjay Kaul said on Tuesday.These machines will be deployed across 20 constituencies in 25,231 polling stations (including 25,177 main and 54 auxiliary booths).This includes 30,238 ballot units, control units, and 32,698 VVPAT machines, inclusive of reserve machines to replace in case of malfunction. The machines are currently under the custody of Assistant Returning Officers in strong rooms.Since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all elections have been using M3 model EVMs and VVPATs. Last year, during September-October, the machines were selected and stored after undergoing a First Level Check (FLC) in the presence of representatives from nationally and state-recognized political parties. The FLC is conducted by authorized engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) at district headquarters under the supervision of District Election Officers. The first phase of randomisation for assigning EVMs to assembly constituencies was completed on March 27 in the presence of election officials and political party representatives, managed through the EVM Management System (EMS).
Following this, the serial numbers of the EVMs and VVPATs were randomized using EMS software, and a printout of the serial numbers was distributed to all party representatives. The second phase of randomization, determining which voting machines go to which polling station, was completed today, April 16. Lists containing the unique ID numbers of EVMs for each polling booth were distributed to the candidates and their agents.On election day, the mock poll is conducted one and a half hours before voting begins. This process starts with the Presiding Officer ensuring that no votes are recorded by pressing the result button on the control unit, which should display zero votes for all candidates. The agents are then shown the empty ballot compartment of the VVPAT. A minimum of 50 votes are cast in the presence of polling agents, and the electronic results are compared with the VVPAT slips to ensure accuracy. Following this, the mock poll results are cleared by the Presiding Officer pressing the ‘clear’ button, ensuring no votes remain. The ‘total’ button is pressed to display zero votes on the control unit and confirm the empty VVPAT ballot compartment. Finally, in the presence of polling agents, the control unit and VVPAT are sealed before actual voting begins.