MARGAO
The process of the first-level checking of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in South Goa got underway here on Tuesday.
South Goa district election officer, Ruchika Katyal, IAS, Additional district election officer, Sanjit Rodrigues, IAS and other officials descended at the Old Collectorate building on Tuesday where the EVMs are stored. The room was opened in the presence of the representatives of the political parties. MLA Churchill Alemao, who represents the NCP in the Goa Legislative Assembly, was present when the EVMs were being shifted to the Matanhy Saldanha Administration complex housing the new district Collectorate.
Around 1220 EVMs machines, which were recently received by the South District administration and were stored at the Old Collectorate were shifted to the new Collectorate building.
Additional district election officer, Sanjit Rodrigues informed that a team of engineers from Bharat Electronics Ltd have already come down to carry out the first-level checking of the EVMs.
“After all the EVMs from the Old Collectorate were being shifted to the new Collectorate, the team of BEL engineers got down to the task of carrying out first-level checking of the EVMs. The process of first-level checking of the EVMs will take some days before the entire process is completed as per the Election Commission of India guidelines,” he added.
He said the BEL engineers will check each and every EVM, whether they are functioning as per the specifications and norms.
Officials pointed out that the first-level check of the EVMs have been undertaken in order to ensure that all the checks are carried out in the presence of the representatives of the political parties. “We had invited representatives of the political parties, out of which MLA Churchill Alemao represented the NCP,” sources said.
Churchill is believed to have underlined the need to conduct thorough testing of the EVMs, pointing out that there were instances in Nuvem last time round, when votes cast in favour of a particular candidate had gone in favour of another candidate.
Churchill told the officials that he was the first political leader to raise the issue of manipulation of EVMs in the 2012 Assembly election after which many others had moved the courts.
