Randomisation of EVMs completed by district admns in Karnal, Kaithal

The Karnal and Kaithal district administration have conducted the randomisation process for electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in the presence of General Observers and District Election Officers of both districts.

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In Karnal, it was conducted in the presence of General Observer Dr R Anand Kumar, and Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Uttam Singh. Dr Kumar exhorted representatives of political parties and candidates to report any violation of the model code during the elections. He said conducting free, fair, and peaceful elections was a collective responsibility.

The District Election Officer said the randomisation of EVMs was done through the Election Commission’s EVM Management System software. As part of this process, EVMs and VVPATs have now been allocated to specific polling stations. The commissioning of the EVMs will now be carried out by the respective Returning Officers (ROs).

He appealed to political parties and candidates to ensure they observed these processes. “If any concerns arise, they should raise it with the RO concerned. If the issue persists, the office of the District Election Officer should be contacted. If any incidents of intimidation or bribery are reported during the election, they must also be reported to the RO immediately,” said the DC.

The DC further said that the EVM randomisation was a crucial process where the allocation of machines was done randomly via software. As many as 1,181 polling stations had been set up across the five constituencies in Karnal district comprising –Nilokheri, Indri, Karnal, Assandh and Gharaunda. A total of 1,181 EVMs had been randomly allocated for these stations, with 20 per cent EVMs and 30 per cent VVPATs kept in reserve. This process is entirely transparent and conducted in the presence of political representatives and election officials. In Karnal, 280 EVMs were randomised, with 46 reserved, for Gharaunda, 300 EVMs were randomised, with 50 reserved, and for Assandh, 296 EVMs were randomised, with 49 reserved.

Meanwhile, the final randomisation of the EVMs was completed in Kaithal in the presence of General Observers VJ Rajput, Pushpanjali Das, and District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Vivek Bharti. He said a total of 807 polling stations had been set up across the district. Under the randomisation process, for the Guhla Assembly constituency, 238 ballot units, 238 control units, and 258 VVPAT machines, including reserves, hadbeen allocated.