Preventing EVM fraud

DC initiates randomisation process to allot ballot and control units to polling booths

Mysore/Mysuru: The first phase of randomisation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail Machines (VVPAT) for the forthcoming Assembly elections on May 10 was done this morning at the EVM Warehouse near the new Deputy Commissioner’s Office at Siddarthanagar. 

The process was done under the supervision of the District Electoral Officer and Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra in the presence of senior officials and representatives of political parties. It will be a two-day process where the EVMs and VVPAT machines to be used in each Assembly segment are selected through randomisation.

It is a measure to prevent any EVM fraud prior to polling and also ensures that nobody knows in advance which EVMs will be allotted to a particular Constituency or the polling booth. This is to ensure a free and fair election. The list of the machines with details, including the barcodes of the machines, were handed over to the Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers and representatives of the political parties.

 The randomisation began with the listing of serial numbers of all EVMs and VVPATs under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioner. Thereafter, the machines for a given Constituency were then randomly selected through a computerised process known as first-level randomisation.

 Representatives from all political parties and independents were briefed by the DC on the process to be followed in each Constituency to dispel doubts.

A second-level randomisation means the Returning Officer later selects the EVMs and VVPATs at a given polling booth/station and all the processes involved will be completed tomorrow.

Returning Officers of all Assembly Constituencies of the district, EVMs and VVPATs Nodal Officer G.T. Dinesh Kumar, who is also the MUDA Commissioner, Election Tahsildar Ramprasad, Revenue Officers of the district and other poll officers were present.

 Speaking on the occasion, DC Dr. Rajendra said that the aim of randomisation is to ensure free and fair elections with no human intervention as the randomisation is being done by dedicated software for the purpose. Before the randomisation, he briefed the political representatives about the randomisation process and assured them that all necessary arrangements have been put in place to ensure free and fair polls.

He said after the randomisation, the EVMs and VVPATs will be shifted to dedicated strong rooms of the respective Constituencies where they will be kept under tight security and protection and the further randomisation for allocation of EVMs to polling stations shall be done in upcoming randomisation phases.

All the officials taking part in the randomisation were asked to deposit their cell phones and other electronic devices at the facility. The allotted machines will be dispatched to the designated polling booths under tight Police security and all other safety measures in place, a day prior to the polls.