Bihar panchayat polls: EVMs to get first-level checks by August 20, says report

The SEC has reportedly directed all district administrations in Bihar to launch their own initiatives in this matter and invite technical experts from the respective EVM manufacturing companies.

Ahead of the panchayat elections in Bihar, all electronic voting machines (EVMs) ordered from other states for polling purposes will undergo a first-level check (FLC) by August 20, HT's sister publication Live Hindustan has reported. The State Election Commission (SEC), mandated to hold the election to the three-tier local bodies in the state, has directed all the districts to get FLCs done when the poll process kicks off from the next month, according to the report.

The EVM machines will undergo first-level checks under the supervision of the district administrations. (Representational Image)

The SEC has also directed all district administrations in Bihar to launch their own initiatives in this matter and invite technical experts from the respective EVM manufacturing companies. The FLC process must be completed across all districts by August 20, the poll body said, adding that necessary instructions have been issued in this regard to all the district collectors and panchayat election officers.

The EVM machines will undergo first-level checks under the supervision of the district administrations, the publication reported, citing poll commission officials familiar with the matter. Engineers of the concerned EVM manufacturing companies will visit all the districts under the directions of the election commission and conduct an inquiry. Additionally, prominent potential election candidates from the region may also be invited during the EVM checking, the report stated.

More than 1,80,000 EVM machines are going to undergo first-level checks in Bihar by August 20, it added.

Notably, the Election Commission of India (ECI) gave its nod for the use of single post-EVMs (M2 model) in the forthcoming panchayat polls, the first such exercise to be conducted in local bodies elections in Bihar.

The SEC has assessed that around 8.5 lakh EVMs would be required for multi-phase polls having a total number of 1.15 lakh polling stations and around six crore electorate. A total of 2.58 lakh posts in the three-tier local bodies, including gram kutcheries, would be elected in the polls.