To sensitise the public on the reliability and security of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), an EVM and VVPAT familiarisation programme for journalists of the state was held at the office of the chief electoral officer, Manipur in Imphal West on Monday.
During the programme joint chief electoral officer (II), Manipur Md S Daulat Khan gave a live demonstration on how the machines work.
Assuring that it is impossible to hack or manipulate an EVM and VVPAT, the joint chief electoral officer appealed to the general public not to believe in rumours being circulated in social media about manipulation of the said machines.
To ensure that the machines are working perfectly, a first level checking (FLC) of EVPs and VVPATs is in progress and it is likely to be completed by the end of 2021, probably by December 28, he added.
Pointing out that VVPAT is not vulnerable to sunlight exposure, he said that they have reserved adequate voting machines for replacement.
Only three machines will be used in the voting process, namely Control Unit, Ballot Unit and VVPAT. The three machines will not be connected to any other external device, he added.
As explained by Daulat, the Control Unit will be kept with the presiding officer of a polling station. The ballot unit will display the name, photo, party symbol and serial number of the candidates, he said.
The candidate voted by an elector will be displayed on the VVPAT machine for seven seconds, he further said, adding such features will let the voters know that the machines are not manipulated.
He said that once the voting process is over, the machines will be kept in a strong room having three layers of security and 24-hour CCTV surveillance. The strong room will be locked and open in presence of the various political parties and authority concerned, added the joint chief electoral officer.
Interested individuals can visit the office of DEO, ERO and other offices concerned, to witness the live demo of the voting machines till the announcement of code of conduct (COC). Once the COC is announced, demonstrations will be available only in the form of video clips, he added.
As per the official data of chief electoral officer, Manipur the total number of polling stations in Manipur at present is 2,959. Some auxiliary polling stations may come up after the special summary revision which is currently ongoing, said officials.
The journalists present in the programme were given an opportunity to check the machines.
