 "Women wait to cast their votes as one of them stands behind a selfie point during the first round of voting of India's national election in Behror, Rajasthan, on 19 April 2024. AP")
The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections is done and dusted. As many as 102 constituencies spread across 21 states and Union Territories were up for grabs on Friday (19 April).
About 60 per cent of turnout was recorded till 7 pm across the country. Over 16.63 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 1,625 candidates in the first phase of India’s general elections.
Now that the ballots have been cast at the polling booths, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have to be kept safe till the counting of votes on 4 June.
So, how is it done? We explain.
What are EVMs?
EVM is an electronic device to register votes. It has two parts – the control unit and the balloting unit. While the control unit is with the polling officer, the balloting unit is used by electors to cast their votes.
Voters press one of the blue buttons placed against the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate of their choice. They can also select the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option if they deem none of the candidates worthy.
Another unit of the EVM is the voter-verifiable-paper-audit-trail (VVPAT). Once the voter chooses the candidate of their choice, a paper slip appears on a transparent screen for around seven seconds before getting stored in a sealed drop box.
What happens after polling?
Once polling is complete, the presiding or the polling officer has to create an account of the votes recorded in the EVMs. Each candidate’s polling agent gets an attested copy of this, as per an Indian Express report.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThen, the EVMs are sealed. Candidates and their agents can put their signatures on the seals which can help them know if there is any tampering with it, the report added.
The EVMs are then transferred to the strong room, the location of which is preferred to be close to the counting centre. Candidates or their representatives can follow the vehicles carrying these machines from the polling stations to the strong room.
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How strong rooms are guarded
EVMs are stored in strong rooms under robust security conditions. After all EVMs reach the strong room, it is sealed and the candidates or their representative can put their own seals or locks, reported Indian Express. They can also monitor the strong rooms around the clock.
There has to be an uninterrupted power supply in the strong rooms during the time EVMs are kept.
The strong room is guarded by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) 24x7. CCTVs are also installed inside the strong room where polled EVMs are kept.
A triple-tier guard protects these strong rooms. The innermost layer is of CAPF, the second tier consists of a guard of the state armed police and the third would be district executive force.
After the strong rooms are sealed, it is not opened until the result day. In case they have to be opened before owing to inevitable reasons, it can be done only when the candidate or their designated agents are present.
They are allowed to place their seals or locks again after the room is shut.
Result day
The EVMs are brought to the counting centres on the day of the results. The representatives of the candidates are shown the unique IDs of the seals and control unit before the counting starts, as per Economic Times (ET).
After the counting of votes is done and the winner is declared, EVMs are again kept in strong rooms and the storage facility is locked and sealed.
“After results are declared candidates are given 45 days to apply for re-voting. Fourty-five days is the window period wherein if the candidate has any doubts over the results, they can apply for re-counting. There have been many instances where the margin of votes between winner and second runner-up is very less, like a few thousand or hundreds. There have been instances where margin is a single vote as well so in such cases recounting is proposed by a candidate. However, once 45 days have passed re-counting cannot happen,” a senior senior from the Election Commission of India (EC) had told India Today in 2019.
Are EVMs unsafe?
Concerns have been raised about the safety of EVMs, with some claiming that the machines can be manipulated. However, the EC maintains that EVMs are safe.
Recently, the poll body told the Supreme Court that EVMs cannot be tampered with “at any stage”. The top court was hearing petitions seeking cross-verification of 100 per cent of votes cast on EVMs with VVPAT paper slips.
For now, the cross-verification of EVM-VVPAT is carried out in five random polling booths in a constituency.
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case.
With inputs from agencies