In the view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, District Election Officer/ Deputy Commissioner, Leh, Santosh Sukhadeve chaired a meeting regarding the first randomisation of (FLC OK BEL Make M-3 Type) EVMs and VVPATs available in the EVM warehouse at DC Office, Leh, on April 2. 

In the meeting, the first phase of randomisation was done for allocation of Ballot Units, Control Units and VVPATs.

Nodal Officer EVM Management, Mohd. Ayub, informed that they have 726 control unit, 908 ballot unit and 513 VVPATs available. He added that the first step is to do First Level Checking (FLC) and to make sure that the machines are in good working conditions and those which are ready to use for election purpose are stored.

It was informed that there are 298 polling stations, and the machines approved by FLC will undergo the first randomisation. He also briefed that in the second randomisation, to ensure transparency and accountability, EVMs will be picked randomly for each polling station. He added that numbers are allotted to the machines, and they will be randomly selected through management software, ensuring that there is no human intervention whatsoever.

Additionally, it was also informed that a total of 402 machines were taken out for deployment in the elections. Machines are available for 298 polling stations and 35 percent is kept in reserves for VVPAT, Ballot Unit (BU) and Control Unit (CU).

The meeting was attended by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP),Shruti Arora;  Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ghulam Mohammad (JKAS);  Deputy District Election Officer, A G Zargar; Nodal officer EVM Management, Mohd. Ayub and president/representatives of political parties.