First randomisation of EVMs held
Panchkula, September 2
Officials of the district election commission carried-out the first randomisation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for Haryana Assembly elections on Monday. The randomisation was conducted in the presence of Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer (DEO) Yash Garg and representatives of political parties at the conference hall of the Mini-Secretariat in the city.
The DEO said that the district had set up 455 polling stations for the Assembly elections, including 225 in the Kalka Assembly constituency and 230 in Panchkula.
He said the first level checking (FLC) of EVMs was conducted periodically to ensure all machines were in an optimal working condition. The randomisation process is computerised to ensure transparency and fairness in selecting the machines that would be used for polling votes.
The allocation of the EVMs has been set at 120 per cent of the number of polling stations for ballot units (BU) and control units (CU), and 130 per cent for voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT). Consequently, the district has set up 546 BUs and CUs each, and 592 VVPATs.
Garg said the machines would be distributed to their respective Assembly constituencies and sent to designated locations before the elections. The next randomisation process would also involve representatives of political parties to maintain transparency, he added.
The election notification for Haryana Assembly elections-2024 will be issued on September 5, marking the start of the nomination process. The process will continue till September 12. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be carried-out on September 13, and candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations until September 16. Voting in the entire state is scheduled for October 5, and the counting of votes will take place on October 8.
Panchkula SDM and Returning Officer Gaurav Chauhan, Kalka SDM and Returning Officer Rajesh Punia, CTM and Deputy District Election Officer Vishwanath, Kalka Tehsildar Vivek Goyal, Raipur Rani BDPO Param Nandan and representatives Rajendra and Ramesh Gupta from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Manoj Aggarwal and Satish Kumar from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Ravindra Rawal from Indian National Congress (INC), Ram Swaroop from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), KC Bhandari and Ishwar Singhmar from Jannayak Janata Dal (JJD), and Promila from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also present on the occasion.
