THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first phase of inspections of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the district was completed by Tuesday as part of the pre-election preparations. These machines will be guarded under tight security until election day. The technical inspection was done by engineers of Electronic Corporation of India Limited in the presence of district collector Navjot Khosa who is the election officer of the district. As part of the first phase of inspections, the control unit of the machine, ballot unit, cable connecting these units and the box that carries the machine were all checked to ensure that they do not malfunction on poll day.
After completing the inspection, the control unit was completely locked and sealed. These machines are stored in a separate centre. The EVMs used in the three-tier election for local bodies have one control unit and three ballot units. As many as 2,859 control units and 8,651 ballot units will be used in the district for this election. In municipalities and corporations, one ballot unit and one control unit will be used.
The district will see election in 1,727 wards, including the 1,299 wards in 73 panchayats, 155 wards in 11 block panchayats, 26 wards in district panchayat, 147 wards in four municpalities (Neyyattinkara, Nedumangad, Attingal and Varkala) and 100 wards in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.