Senior Election Commission officials led by deputy election commissioners will begin visiting the five poll-bound states this week to assess election preparedness at the field level, officials said.
Teams from the EC are scheduled to visit Goa this week, followed by Uttarakhand next week. Visits to Punjab and Manipur will take place in the following weeks, officials said. There is no word yet on when the EC teams will visit Uttar Pradesh.
Usually, the full Commission comprising the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners visits states ahead of the announcement of the election schedule.
The term of the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly ends on May 22 next year, while the terms of the 60-member Manipur, 40-member Goa, 117-member Punjab and 70-member Uttarakhand assemblies end on different dates in March 2027.
Under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the EC can hold elections earlier than six months before the expiry of an Assembly's term.
As part of preparations, Uttar Pradesh and Goa have begun first-level checks (FLCs) of electronic voting machines and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units to be used in the elections.
During an FLC, engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the two public sector undertakings that manufacture the equipment, check the machines for mechanical and other faults. Faulty units are sent back to the manufacturers for repair or replacement.
A mock poll is also conducted to test the machines in the presence of representatives of political parties.
The FLC is an important stage of election preparedness and is conducted according to a calendar issued by the EC. During the process, any data from previous elections stored in the control and ballot units is completely cleared.
Once a unit passes all diagnostic tests, it is marked “FLC OK” and sealed with a specialised pink paper seal to prevent unauthorised access before the next stages of election preparation.
An EVM setup comprises at least one ballot unit, one control unit and one VVPAT machine.
(With inputs from PTI)
