BHUBANESWAR: State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Surendra Kumar on Tuesday said 95 per cent electronic voting machines (EVMs) have reached Odisha ahead of General and Assembly elections next year. Approximately, 96,000 EVMs and an equal number of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) are required for the 2019 elections in the State, sources said.
Kumar said the EVMs have been brought from six states - Chhattisgarh, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. EVMs and VVPATS made by Electronics Corporation of India Limited will be used during the General Elections this time.
The EVMs have been brought in containers to Jharsuguda and Balasore from where it will be sent to other districts, he added. Earlier, Kumar had said by September, all warehouses will be readied for safe keeping of the EVMs and VVPATs. For the first time VVPATs will be used for a General Elections in the State. Earlier, the Election Commission of India had used VVPAT along with EVMs in the by-election to Bijepur Assembly segment.