The State election authority has drawn up a tentative action plan for training the officials deputed on election duties as the stage is set for the publication of final list of electors.
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer has decided to complete the posting related issues of officers at various levels drafted for poll duties by October 17. This would be followed by training to more than 100 returning officers in two batches and the training is expected to last for four days.
The training would cover various aspects of elections, including the operation of the electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trail machines, as well as the effective management of the election equipment from the time they reach the respective constituency till the completion of counting marking the conclusion of the election process. These officials would in turn train the district, constituency and booth level officers working under their supervision to ensure that the entire process is managed effectively.
Meanwhile, the CEO’s office has completed the first level checks of all the 52,100 ballot units, 40,700 of the 41,000 control units and 43,988 of the 44,000 VVPAT machines allotted to the State. Of the total machines, the election officials have rejected 481 ballot units, 822 control units and 3,380 VVPATs including 232 VVPATs allotted to Hyderabad, Khammam (229), Rangareddy (226) and Suryapet (197).
These machines are being returned to the Bengaluru and Panchkula facilities of the Bharat Electronics Limited for replacement and the election officials are hopeful of securing at least half of the replaced machines well in advance.