: For the first time, the State Election Commission is planning to use specially designed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) on a trial basis in the ensuing local body polls to elect the ward member, village panchayat president, union councillor and the district panchayat councillor from the Melpuram block of Kanniyakumari district.
If the experiment goes well, the EVMs are likely to replace ballots papers in rural local bodies, where voters cast as many as four votes.
Talkign to media persons here on Thursday after chairing a meeting with the Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers, State Election Commissioner P. Seetharaman said the Mark V Electronic Voting Machines were specially fabricated for rural local bodies.
Polling personnel involved in the exercise would be trained for a week on operating the specially designed EVMs. He said the SEC, after getting formal permission from the Election Commission, had dispatched a team of officials to Odisha to bring the EVMs to Tamil Nadu after recalibration by experts from Bharat Electronics Ltd. The SEC had already released Rs. 107.69 crore out of the total civic poll expenditure of Rs. 182 crore for making arrangements for peaceful polling. Mr. Seetharaman said the draft list of polling booths and the draft electoral rolls (the voters’ list used in the last Assembly polls) had already been released and the public could take a look at these lists displayed at select places.
“Addition, deletion and changes, if any, to be made in the electoral roll can be done up to September 26 and printing of booth slips will be done between September 27 and October 1,” Mr. Seetharaman said.
District Collector M. Karunakaran, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tirunelveli City Pradip Kumar, Superintendent of Police V. Vikraman, District Revenue Officer M.G. Kulandaivel and senior officials participated in the meeting.
