NASHIK: For the first time, Election Commission of India (ECI) has allowed setting and sealing of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at assembly constituency levels instead of district headquarters.“Election officials from the various parts of the country, including Nashik, had written to the Election Commission expressing concern over the transportation of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) that could malfunction. Heeding requests, ECI has allowed the setting and sealing of machines at assembly constituencies,” Arun Anandkar, the deputy district election officer, Nashik, said.According to officers the VVPATs – which are now compulsory at every polling station across the country – have electro-mechanical parts. Settings of these parts are delicate and a long journey with the machines could raise technical problems.Nandgaon taluka – which is the farthest from Nashik at 119 km away – will now not have to put the machines through long road rides. Although the roads are good, jerks cannot be ruled out. Similar is the case with far off polling stations in Surgana and Kalwan assembly seats.“Even while we were carrying out demonstrations for citizens, our officers had problems. We apprehended that there would be some problem during the elections and machines would have to travel longer distances. Though reserve machines were there, the question is what if the rate of malfunctioning VVPATs was very high?” a senior officer explained.After ECI has permitted machines to be set up as assembly constituencies, Electronic Voting Machines are now being sent to assembly constituencies. The district has 5,702 control units, 10,008 ballot units and 6,158 VVPATs for its 4,720 polling stations.The election department, meanwhile, completed the first randomization process in the matter of four days only. The machines are now being shipped to assembly constituencies where they will be kept in strong rooms at the respective assembly constituencies.Sarita Narke, nodal officer for EVMs, said that the process of randomization was carried out in front of political parties and the list of the machines that will be sent to assembly constituencies are being handed to the respective political parties.The details of every EVM along with the VVPAT that has come to Nashik were first uploaded on the ECI database. Then the first level check-up of the machines was carried out.

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