Tamil Nadu: DEO conducts preliminary verification of EVMs
Machines will be inspected for defects, repairs thrice before finalising on perfect ones to be used
DEO and Coporation Commissioner Kumaragurubaran during the preliminary verification of EVMs at Chintadripet on Thursday
CHENNAI: In view of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly General Election in 2026, preliminary verification of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was conducted on Thursday at the storage warehouse in Chintadripet.
This was done by the District Election Officer and the Corporation Commissioner, J Kumaragurubaran, with the representatives of the recognised political parties.
Later, after the inspection, addressing the press, the Chennai district election officer said, "As per the orders of the ECI, the initial verification work on the functioning of EVM for the upcoming Tamil Nadu legislative assembly elections 2026 was held today and will continue for one month. It is planned to check 250 to 300 machines per day."
These machines will first be inspected for any defects and repairs, and then EVMs will be opened and inspected to find whether the buttons are working.
"The machines will be inspected three times by different teams. After the inspection, good condition machines will be kept separately and used for election purposes," said Kumaragurubaran.
"If there are any repairs and defects, those electronic voting machines will be sent to Barath Electronic Limited in Bangalore. Currently, as many as 6,603 Control Units, 13,631 EVMs, there are 7,310 VVPAT machines are available," added Kumaragurabaran.
During this inspection, additional district election officer and joint commissioner (education) K Karpagam, representatvies of recognised political parties, and officials were present.
As a part of preparation , first level checking of EVMs/m or VVPATs is to be done before every election.
The District Election Officers (DEO) is responsible for the overall FLC process and shall ensure strict adherence and compliance of FLC instructions.
The District Election Officer appointed an additional or deputy who is fully trained with the First Level Checking (FLC) process as supervisor. Further, a few more checks is to be conducted by the ECI for ensuring the status of the EVMs.
