5,000 new EVMs in Bengaluru for Karnataka assembly elections

A total of 5,000 advanced Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) which can automatically detect errors and any tampering with the vote will be used in Bengaluru for the May 12 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, the state’s chief election official said on Tuesday.

“We are going to use 5,000 EVMs and VVPAT machines with advanced automation and can detect any errors and display on the screen if the vote cast was tampered with or dysfunctional,” CEO Sanjiv Kumar said.

Bengaluru-based Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) will be supplying these advanced election machinery to be used in the city for the ensuing elections on a pilot basis.

“The new machines, which will be used for the first time in the state, will be deployed in the constituencies of Bengaluru,” Kumar said.

Training programmes for the election officials on using the new machines will be held, he said, adding that however, for the voters, there is no difference between the machines as all the elements remain the same.

Each EVM consists of a control unit and a balloting unit. As of date, there are 89,206 balloting units and 76,192 control units in the state.

“These units are enough for the 58,546 polling stations across 224 assembly segments in the state,” Kumar added.

Some of the units have been sourced from other states, including Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, to make up for the shortfall of some outdated machines which were discarded, and few others stuck in court cases over alleged rigging of votes in the past.

The southern state has 4.96 crore electors, including 2.52 crore men and 2.44 crore women and about 4,500 people who identify themselves as the third gender.

After a special drive was held on April 8 to register any voters left out in the state, 6.45 lakh applications were received, which will be scrutinised by the election officials and will be added to the electoral list if eligible to vote, Kumar said.

Since the model code of conduct was put in place across the state by the Election Commission on March 27, Rs4.69 crore cash has been seized in the state by the surveillance teams for violation of the poll code.

Freebies for voters worth over Rs 9.96 crore were also seized by the poll officials.

About 10,500 litres of liquor valued at Rs 46 lakh was also seized by the state’s Excise Department. A total of 15,42,000 youth in the 18-19 age group have enrolled to vote for the first time in the ensuing poll. In all, 3,56,552 personnel will be deployed to conduct the polling. The vote count will be done on May 15.