EVMs to be handed over to presiding officers

KOCHI: Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to be used for Piravom by-election, will be handed over to the presiding officers on Tuesday. A 10-member team of technicians from the Keltron and Electronics Corporation of India has completed the inspection of the EVMs, which are now kept in the strongroom of the Collectorate.  The second phase randomisation of machines will also be done on Tuesday under the supervision of the presiding officer at Muvattupuzha Nirmala Junior School. Umakanth Panwar and Veerabhadra Reddy, who are deputed by the Election Commission (EC) as observers, will also be present. After the candidates’ details are set on the machines, they will be sorted to besent to different polling booths.  Then the machines will be stamped with a seal of the EC and will be kept in a strongroom at the school, the district administration said in a statement. The voting machines will reach the designated polling booths on Friday morning. A fleet of vehicles, including seven buses, a mini bus and three jeeps, have been arranged for transportation of polling materials. Special sectoral officers have been deputed to constantly monitor polling booths. Village officers who have a good knowledge of the location of polling booths are deputed as sectoral officers. Each sectoral officer will monitor 10 booths, the authorities said.