Team News Riveting
Raipur, May 29
In a significant step towards ensuring fair and transparent elections, the training program for officials and first level checking of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) were conducted in the state capital on Monday.
Besides the District Election Officers (DEOs), Deputy District Election Officers (DDEOs) attended the training aimed to empower the officers with comprehensive knowledge and technical expertise in administrative and technical procedures related to EVM handling. The training session, conducted by the expert trainers of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), covered topics related to the First Level Checking (FLC) procedure and handling of EVMs, along with practical training.
Under the guidance of Secretary of the Election Commission of India, B C Patra, Uttarakhand’s Assistant Chief Electoral Officer and EVM Nodal Officer, Mastu Das, and the Election Commission of India’s Section Officer, Mr. Vibhor Agarwal, gave detailed information regarding the technical and administrative procedures of EVMs and VVPATs. ECIL’s Deputy Senior Director P C Mandal, gave detailed information on the technical aspects of EVMs. He also gave detailed information about the necessary equipment and connectors used for FLC.
Chhattisgarh’s Chief Electoral Officer Mrs. Reena Baba Saheb Kangale, informed that the FLC for a total of 1 lakh 27 thousand 444 EVMs and VVPATs will be carried out in each district headquarters from June 10 to 27 in the state. The workshop served as a platform for providing detailed information about the FLC and EVM handling to all the district election officers, deputy district election officers, and FLC supervisors to ensure the efficient implementation of election procedures at the district level.
Chhattisgarh’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Mrs. Shikha Rajput Tiwari, Joint Chief Electoral Officers Bipin Majhi and Dr KRR Singh, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Vinay Agarwal, and Assistant Chief Electoral Officers Rupesh Verma and Mrs. Sharda Agarwal were also present in the workshop. The Joint Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, Anees T., Deputy Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar Dhiraj Kumar, and the Officer on Special Duty for Jharkhand, Mrs. Geeta Choubey, also participated in the workshop.
Chhattisgarh’s Office of Chief Electoral Officer has issued a schedule for the FLC of EVMs/VVPATs in all the districts of the state, which is likely to go to the polls in November. For this, the authority has formed 26 teams of engineers, which will visit the respective districts on the scheduled dates and complete the FLC process in the presence of the District Election Officer, Deputy District Election Officer, and FLC Supervisors.
