Bindu Singh

Chandigarh

EVMs are tamper-proof, says Punjab CEO Karuna Raju. “No possibility of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) hacking as it is a stand-alone machine like a calculator,” said Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Dr S Karuna Raju, here on Wednesday. He said the EVM is fully tamper-proof as eight-layered security system is in place.Sharing this information in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the CEO said the Election Commission is initiating an awareness campaign to make voters understand about the use of the EVM to exercise their votes. For that matter, mobile vans would be sent to the villages as a part of exercise prior to the Lok Sabha polls, he added.

Answering to a question, he said that the commission had demanded 199 security companies during the last Lok Sabha elections. He said the commission was regularly evaluating the law and order situation in the state and if needed the number of security companies might be increased accordingly.When asked if Dera Sacha Sauda factor can influence the elections and security in the state, he said that every state has its own issues and dera factor was also a part of the society in Punjab.

It was not just dera factor but all the state specific issues would be taken into the consideration during elections to evade any untoward situation.On the issue of measures to check paid or surrogate news during election campaigning, he said that the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) would keep a vigil on day to day basis on the news that get published in the newspapers and broadcast on TV channels. He said that the commission get inputs from district officers, intelligence and district organisations in this regard.He disclosed that 2.46 lakh first timer youth voters had enrolled themselves till date. The commission has set the target of enrolling more youth voters and the estimated number could reach to 9 lakh, he added.

There were 2.1 crore total voters in the state, he added.He said the commission was working to increase the vote percentage this timeas compared to the last Lok Sabha polls. He said that the commission maintains the separate voting list of Non Resident Indians so voting procedure was absolutely hassle free for them. He said that anyone who was interested to enrol could gather the info on the toll free no. 1950. The commission was fully equipped to use cent per cent Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines to make the voting process more effective and transparent on all the 23,124 polling stations of the state.

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