On the directives of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma on Thursday inspected the First Level Checking (FLC) of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) that started today in the presence of representatives of political parties.
Accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) Rahul Chaba, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Khanna) Sakatar Singh Bal, Deputy Commissioner examined the work of the first level checking of the machines to be used during the upcoming Assembly Elections next year.
He held detailed interaction with the Engineers of Bharat Electric Limited (BEL), who have been assigned the duty of preparing these machines. Sharma said that primary motive of this inspection is to ensure that polling is conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.
The Deputy Commissioner said that all these machines would be used by the administration during the 2022 Assembly Elections and added that the process of thoroughly checking of 6485 Ballot Units, 4339 Control Units and 4664 VVPATs to be used during the elections would be completed within a month. He said that this exercise is the most important work for ensuring the elections in a smooth, hassle free and transparent manner.
The Deputy Commissioner said that owing to this reason, ECI has decided to hold this exercise much in advance. He said that proper security arrangements along with CCTV/Videography have been ensured during completion of FLC.
He said that the district administration has already requested the political parties to send their representatives during these checking to ensure full transparency in the entire work.
Sharma further said that the political parties must take part in this activity because it is very essential for strengthening the ethos of democracy at the grass-root level.
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Prominent amongst others present on the occasion included Election Tehsildar Anju Bala, political representatives Kamal from Indian National Congress, Dev Raj from CPI (M) Arun Kumar Sidhu and Sarbjeet Singh from NCP.