Asserting that all the electronic voting machines are tamper-proof, District Election Officer-cum-Collector Gaurav Uppal on Tuesday said matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) slips with EVMs is only to instill confidence among stakeholders.
The counting of VVPAT slips will happen only at the end of the day, after tally on all the EVMs is completed, he said.
Explaining the steps taken for the counting day on Thursday, Mr. Uppal said each of the seven Assembly segments that constitute the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency has been allotted a separate counting hall at the Duppallapally FCI godowns on the outskirts of the town.
There are 14 tables for counting of votes of each segment and the process will be monitored by an Assistant Returning Officer, who also has a micro observer to doubly verify the tally.
The eighth hall will count service votes received through Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS).
Above all the 1, 500 personnel involved in the mega event, there will be two General Observers, Mr. Uppal said.
Randomly selected
Explaining the ‘additional exercise’, he said five VVPAT machines will be randomly picked from each of the seven segments, and the slip count will be matched with its corresponding EVM tally. This will happen after all the EVMs are counted and figures arrived.
“There is no error in any machine, they are tamper-proof. But owing to hot temperatures or battery drains in VVPATs, the process may take more time than usual. And we are in no hurry,” he said.
But asked about the rationale for matching of VVPAT slips with the EVMs at the end of the day, instead in the beginning, Mr. Uppal reaffirmed the credibility of EVMs. “The last step is only to instil confidence among everyone,” he said.
Superintendent of Police A.V. Ranganath said a three-tier security has been ensured 100 metres from the counting centre till the counting halls. In addition to the three dedicated video recorders for counting halls, an extra recorder will cover only shifting of EVMs from the strong room to the halls.
Contestants, counting agents and polling personnel are not allowed to carry mobile phones into the counting halls.