The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), control units, and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were dispatched to polling booths across Salem, Namakkal, and Dharmapuri districts. In Namakkal district, EVMs were transported on foot for a distance of five kilometers.
In Salem district, a total of 3,260 polling booths were established across 11 assembly constituencies, including 1,766 booths within the Salem Lok Sabha Constituency, covering Salem South, Salem North, Salem West, Omalur, Edappadi, and Veerapandi assembly constituencies. These booths will be staffed by a total of 16,092 government staff, and each booth will be equipped with two EVMs. There are a total of 29.45 lakh voters in Salem district, comprising 14.64 lakh males, 14.80 lakh females, and 299 trans voters. Additionally, 235 vulnerable booths, including 130 in the Salem Lok Sabha constituency, will be under surveillance through web cameras, with central forces deployed for security.
In Namakkal district, 1,628 polling booths were established across six assembly constituencies, with 174 identified as vulnerable. CCTV cameras have been installed at 65% (1,060) of the booths, and a total of 2,786 police officers, including central forces, will be deployed for security. The district has a voter population of 14.52 lakh, comprising 7.08 lakh males, 7.44 lakh females, and 158 third-gender voters. Furthermore, 7,816 government staff members are assigned to election duty.
Special efforts were made to transport election materials to remote areas, such as the polling booths at Bodhamalai in the Rasipuram assembly constituency of Namakkal district. Officials carried EVMs, VVPATs, and control units on their heads, trekking through the hills for a distance of five kilometres. These booths serve 1,142 voters residing in Keezhur, Melur, and Kedamalai, situated at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. With road-laying works ongoing in the hills, officials anticipate the use of vehicles for future elections.
Similarly, in the Erimalai and Kooturmalai tribal hamlets of the Pennagaram assembly constituency in Dharmapuri district, election materials, including EVMs, were transported via tractor for the first time. Previously, materials were carried by donkeys. With recent development of mud roads in the hills, the tractor transportation method was employed, serving the 634 voters across two polling booths in the hamlet.
