EVMs to be tested today for ensuing LS polls

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Election Department started preparations for the ensuing Lok Sabha (LS) elections as the district administration will test new M-3 Electronics Voting Machines (EVMs) on July 4.

Deputy collector Devendra Katke said that the testing of EVMs would be conducted at State Warehouse Corporation at the Railway Station-MIDC area. The administration started collecting equipment need for the election process.

The type of EVM machine called M-3 will be used in the polls. The administration will get the machines in two phases. The equipment included 7,648 ballet units, 4,727 control units, and 4,856 Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines. Engineers of Bharat Electronics Ltd will test the machines by August. Officers and representatives of the recognised parties will be able to test the machines in the preliminary phase. Nearly 1 lakh new voters registered in the district. So, the number of booths will be increased.

The Election Commission has issued instructions to restructure the booths. The model code of conduct was implemented on March 10, 2019, for the last LS elections. The voting and counting were held on April 23 and May 23, 2019, respectively. There were 2104 polling centres last time and their number may be increased up to 2200. Currently, there are 2,845 polling booths. There were 18.86 lakh voters in Aurangabad LS in 2019 while Jalan LS had 9,31 lakh voters. A total of 23 candidates were in the fray in the district.