EVM stands for Electronic Voting Machine. It is a device used to electronically record and count votes cast in elections. The Indian Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system is also termed as ECI-EVM , meaning an EVM specifically designed, manufactured and used for Elections as per election procedure and rules framed by Election Commission of India and documented in manual on EVM , so as to differentiate it from EVMs used   in other countries.

ECI – EVM consists of Ballot Unit (BU ), Control Unit ( CU ) and the later added Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). EVMs come under the overall category of DRE voting machines, or Direct Recording Electronic voting machine systems, which is one of the many voting methodologies available worldwide. ECI-EVMs are considered more efficient and accurate than paper ballots, as they eliminate the possibility of invalid votes due to unclear or improperly marked (stamped) paper ballots, reduce the time required for counting and ensure that a vote is registered for a single candidate only.

For detailed information on various aspects of ECI-EVM , the following documents may be referred:

The Presentation on EVM booklet is a short comprehensive guide on ECI-EVMs. Starting with a historical perspective it covers the technical safeguards and administrative safeguards, procedures governing the secure design , production , transportation storage and deployment of EVMs in elections. The transparent administrative processes ofECIsolicit the presence and participation of recognised political parties at all stages of EVM deployment . The presentation covers the debate around EVMs and the oft-repeated and misplaced international comparisons. A few slides also cover the Judicial scrutiny the EVM has endured and passed with flying colours.

The Manual on EVM contains the gist of all-important instructions on use of BU, CU and VVPAT and serves as a ready reference. The Manual is divided into four parts. Part 1 covers Storage process and Movement of EVM during Election and Non-election period, First Level Checking, First Randomisation and Training and Awareness on EVMs. Part 2 covers all processes from Second randomisation to Counting of Votes . Part 3 gives the historical perspective and legal perspective and Part 4 contains Annexures and reporting Formats.

ECI takes special care through pre-poll First Level Checking ( FLC ) before conducting poll to ensure that EVMs to be used are fit for use in elections. A very secure process of handling EVMs in poll is followed with participation of recognised political parties / candidates/their representatives.

The EVM  Storage and Movement of EVM is done through EVM Management System ( EMS ) to ensure efficient management and control of ECI-EVMstock.

The booklet Status Paper on EVM covers in brief the journey of EVMs in India since its conceptualisation in 1977 to the present along with the socio-political feedback on introduction of EVMs. It also highlights various legal interventions and court cases in its long journey of over four decades. The role of Technical Expert Committee , and various aspects such as design and manufacturing protocol , EVM safety and security features , and stringent administrate procedure for handing EVMs along with International comparison .

Appendix 1 and 2 of this booklet provide some interesting facts on use of EVMs in elections which clearly bring out all possible permutations of electoral outcomes both favouring and disfavouring National and State Political Parties.

The Legal History of EVMs booklet provides a useful insight into EVM inception and milestones , first usage of EVM, Legislative amendment to enable usage of EVM, Legal provisions regarding EVM&VVPAT, and Judicial Decisions on EVM & VVPAT

In the Paper Ballot system, the list of contesting candidates is printed on a paper (ballot paper) along with serial number, name and symbol of the candidates. There is a specific space allocated for each contesting candidate where a vote can be cast by voter by putting a mark. Thereafter, voter needs to fold the ballot paper in a specified manner and to deposit in the Ballot Box. For Counting votes obtained by that candidate, only correctly marked votes are counted.

Some of the major issues with ballot paper voting are that (i) many votes become invalid due to improper marking/ink smudging (ii) Ballot boxes are also susceptible to “stuffing with spurious votes” by capturing the booth for few minutes. (iii) Voting with pre-marked ballot papers. (iv) Manual counting of votes is prone to errors and mischief and takes a lot of days.In the ECI-EVM system of voting, the Control Unit is placed with the Presiding Officer (In-Charge CU) and the Ballot Unit(s) and VVPAT are placed inside the Voting Compartment. Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit releases the electronic Ballot by pressing the “Ballot Button” on the Control Unit. This enables the voter to cast his/her vote by pressing the “blue button” (Candidate button) on the Ballot Unit against the candidate of his/her choice. When the voter presses a button against the candidate of his/her choice on Ballot Unit, a red LED glows against the chosen candidate’s button on BU. A paper slip showing the serial number, name and the symbol of the candidate of his/her choice is generated and is visible for about 7 seconds through transparent window of VVPAT.

Hence the voter is able to see the “printed slip” and verify that vote is cast as per his/her choice.  Thereafter, the printed paper slip gets cut automatically and stored in sealed Drop Box of VVPAT. A loud BEEP is heard from the Control Unit which confirms that the vote is registered successfully. The signal flow at the time of voting between BU, CU &VVPAT is shown in Annexure-I The VVPAT paper slips can be later used for verifying the electronic count obtained from CU in case of a dispute. This record of VVPAT printed paper slips verified by voter and the process of correlating VVPAT and CU count as per established mandatory verification procedure makes the voting on EVMs trustworthy Hence it can be seen that no technical knowledge is required for casting a Vote on the EVM and ordinary citizens can easily cast their votes on ECI EVMs.

Advantages of ECI-EVM voting system:

(i) As voting is done by pressing a button, these is no invalid vote as in paper ballot system.

(ii) Booth capturing has been eliminated by technology used in EVMs and administrative procedures such that capturing booth is not worthwhile even if attempted. EVM voting system does not permit more than 4 votes per minute under any circumstances. Thus it takes too long a time to cast a substantial number of votes giving sufficient time to security forces to respond to the Booth Capturing attempt.

(iii)  No possibility of voting after CLOSE button is pressed at the close of poll.

(iv) It ensures quick, error free and mischief free counting of votes.

(v)  Voter is instantly able to verify that his / her vote has been cast correctly by verifying the VVPAT ’s printed slip.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) consisting of Ballot Unit (BU) & Control Unit (CU) were used for the first time in the by-elections to Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in 1982.

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail with EVM was used for first time in the by election to Noksen Assembly Constituency of Nagaland in 2013.

14th August 2013.

Presently, the M3 Model of ECI-EVM and VVPAT are used. Similar to the earlier Models, M3 EVMs / VVPATs are also non-networked, stand-alone units that run on power-packs / batteries of their own.

Post -Lok Sabha Election, 2019,ECIhas been using only M3 Model EVMs and VVPATs in all the elections. M3 EVMs were first introduced in year 2013-14, and the model gradually replacing the earlier models as and when they were phased out. During Lok Sabha, 2019,  VVPATs were deployed in all polling stations of the country, and a total of 17.40 Lakhs VVPATunits were available for the Elections. The amount of money spent on the procurement of M3 model machines is given in table below:

EVMs/VVPATs are not imported but indigenously designed and manufactured by two Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) namely Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), under the Ministry of Defence and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy under the guidance of the Technical Experts Committee (TEC) constituted by the Election Commission of India.

The cost of CU, BU and VVPAT is finalised by the Price Negotiation Committee constituted by the Government of India. The present cost of a BU is Rs.7,991/-, CU is Rs.9,812/- and VVPAT is Rs.16,132/-. The economic life of EVMs is approximately 15 years.

The  ECI-EVM system can record a maximum of 2,000 votes but generally it is used for recording 1500 votes only.

Each Ballot Unit can cater to 16 candidates including NOTA. A total of 24 BUs can be connected to a CU to make a set of EVM. Therefore, when required, one set of EVM can cater up to a maximum of 384 candidates including NOTA.

EVM and VVPAT do not require any external power supply. EVM and VVPAT run on their own battery/ power-packs supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited / Electronics Corporation of India Limited. EVM runs on a Power Pack of 7.5 Volts and VVPAT runs on a power-pack of 22.5 Volts

Yes, during simultaneous elections two separate sets of EVMs are required in a polling station; one for the Parliamentary Constituency and the other for the Legislative Assembly Constituency.

As soon as the voter presses the `blue button’ on the BU against the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate of his/her choice, an LED against the candidate button glows red and the VVPAT prints a slip having serial number, name and symbol of the chosen candidate which is visible for about 7 seconds before getting cut and stored in the sealed Drop Box of the VVPAT. A loud beep sound from the CU confirms the registration of the vote. Thus, there is both audio and visual indication for the voter to be assured that his/her vote has been recorded.

EVMs are electronic machines and like any other machine they are also vulnerable to failures. The failed machines are sent to the factories for rectification. However, there is no question of any machine ‘malfunctioning’ in a way so as to favour a particular candidate, which is called tampering as per defined EVM protocol. This scenario is just not possible with the many safeguards incorporated in design of EVM itself.

Yes, Election Commission has full control over entire voting process.  All election officials work directly under the direction, supervision and control of Election Commission of India during the election period.

Rating of power pack of CU is 7.5Volts, 2AH. Rating of power pack of VVPAT is 22.5 volts, 4AH. BU uses the same power pack as the CU when more than four BUs are used. May also please refer General Queries FAQ Qn.no.12.

The power packs of CU and VVPAT are periodically monitored and the balance power status is displayed by the Control Unit as “High”, “Medium”, “Low”, “Marginal” and “Change Battery” along with the percentage.

The power packs are replaced from the “Reserve” power packs available with the Sector Officers when the “Change Battery” status is displayed by the CU.

The VVPAT printed slip is approximately 99mm x 56mm in size. The VVPAT slip is basically thermal paper with a print retention capability of about five years when stored properly.

Printed slip of VVPAT contains the following information:

1. Candidate Serial Number
2. Name of the Candidate
3. Symbol of party or Candidate
4. Session Number
5. VVPAT ID

These details could be viewed by the voter.

Yes. VVPAT slips have the unique ID number of the VVPAT that printed the slips. Therefore, from the unique ID number mentioned on the VVPAT printed slips, we will be able to identify the source VVPAT.

First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted by the authorised engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), as the case may be, at district headquarters under supervision of District Election Officer, and in the presence of the representatives of the National and State recognised political parties.

Election Commission of India provides EVMs on loan basis only to State Election Commissions (SEC) to conduct their local body elections, based on the requests received, considering the following conditions:

i. Law(s) governing Local Bodies elections provide for use of EVMs.

ii. Only those models of EVMs which are discontinued for deployment by ECI to conduct elections to Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies and which are within the period of economic life of 15 years are loaned.

iii. Subject to availability of such EVMs with ECI.

iv. ECI may seek any report from SECs about loaned EVMs as required.

No, commissioning of EVMs is done by the election officials deputed by the District Election Officer/Returning Officer in presence of contesting candidates or their authorized representatives present . Generally, two BEL/ECIL engineers per Assembly Constituency/Segment are available to assist in symbol loading in VVPATs.

After completion of economic life of EVMs/VVPATs, i.e. 15 years, EVMs/VVPATs are sent back to BEL/ECIL factories for destruction as per standard protocol. The following procedures are followed for destruction:

i. Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) shall be separated from Plastic Housings;

ii. All components mounted on PCBs shall be removed/chopped off and crushed;

iii. The bare PCBs shall be cut into minimum 4 pieces and crushed;

iv. The remaining plastic assemblies/housing shall also be cut into 4 to 6 pieces and crushed;

v. Plastic waste shall be recycled to ensure that environment is protected;

vi. Entire process of the disposal/destruction should be videographed;

vii. Recording of videography shall be disposed of by BEL/ECIL only after confirmation from ECI.

viii. The guidelines/safeguards for destruction of electronic items, issued by the Pollution Control Board/Ministry of Environment and Forests etc. or any other law for the time being in force, shall be followed;

ix. It shall be ensured that e-wastes are channelized to registered dismantler or recycler;

x. A proper record of each unit destroyed/destructed should be maintained.

It is easier to transport the EVMs, as compared to ballot boxes as EVMs are lighter, portable and come with custom-made carrying cases for ease of carriage/transport. EVMs are transported under extreme security and following elaborate safeguards.

The Election Commission of India has put in place an elaborate administrative system of security measures and procedural checks-and-balances aimed at prevention of any possible misuse or procedural lapses on use of EVMs and VVPATs in elections to the State Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies. These safeguards are implemented rigorously and transparently with the active involvement of the stakeholders i.e. National and State Recognised Political Parties or candidates/their representatives covering all the activities involving EVMs/VVPATs across the electoral process. All these activities are well documented by way of proceedings, letters, intimation, etc. by the District Election Officers (DEOs), Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) and other field officials. Listed below are the various stages in the electoral process where active participation of political parties and candidates is solicited by ECI for transparency and confidence building of the stake holders:

1. Opening and Closing of EVM warehouse

a) During non-election period till finalization of list of the contesting candidates, EVM-VVPAT warehouses are opened/closed (for any purpose like movement of EVMs, quarterly inspection etc.) in the presence of the representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties

b) With finalization of list of the contesting candidates, candidates and their representatives are involved while opening and closing of EVM-VVPAT warehouses/strong room.

c)  Opening and Closing of EVM warehouse/strong room is done under videography.

 2.     First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs

a)  First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted before every election by the authorised engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) at DEO level.

b)  For this purpose, National and State Recognised Political Parties at district headquarters are invited in writing by DEO concerned at least two days before the beginning of FLC and a copy is endorsed to state headquarters.

c) The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are involved to oversee entire FLC process.

d)  Higher Mock-Poll is conducted in 5% randomly selected EVMs (i.e. 1200 votes in 1% EVMs, 1000 votes in 2% EVMs and 500 votes in 2% EVMs). The electronic result of EVM is tallied with the VVPAT slips count. The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are allowed to pick 5% EVMs randomly and also to do Mock-Poll.

e) List of FLC ok EVMs is shared with all National and State Recognised Political Parties.

f) The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are allowed to sign the seals, forms, register during FLC.

3. Taking out of EVMs for Training and Awareness after FLC

a) After completion of FLC, maximum up to 10% EVMs and VVPATs are taken out for awareness and training purpose in the presence of National and State Recognised Political Parties.

b)  The list of awareness and training EVMs is shared with them.

4. Randomization of EVMs.

a) First Randomization of EVMs is conducted in the presence of National and State Recognised Political Parties to allocate EVMs Assembly constituency/ segment-wise.

b) List of first randomized EVMs (AC/AS-wise) is shared with National and State Recognised Political Parties.

c)  After finalization of list of contesting candidate, list of first randomized EVMs  (AC/AS-wise) is also shared with contesting candidates.

d)  Second Randomization of EVMs is conducted to allocate EVMs polling station wise as well as for marking the Reserve EVMs which are to be used for replacement of machines which become non- functional on poll day. List of second randomized EVMs is shared with candidates.

5. Commissioning of EVMs.

a)  Commissioning of EVMs for use in poll is done in the presence of contesting candidates.

b) Candidates/their representatives are allowed to sign the seals used in sealing EVMs

c) Higher Mock-Poll is conducted in 5% randomly selected EVMs by casting 1000 votes. The electronic result of CU is tallied with the VVPAT slips count. Candidates/their representatives are allowed to pick 5% EVMs randomly and also to do mock poll.

6. Dispersal of EVMs  with Polling Parties.

a) Dispersal of EVMs is done in the presence of the contesting candidates.

7. Mock Poll and Actual Poll on Poll Day

a)  Mock-Poll on Poll day is conducted at every polling station in the presence of the polling agents nominated by the contesting candidates.

b) Polling agents nominated by the contesting candidates are allowed to remain in polling stations to observe polling process.

c) Polling agents are allowed to sign the seals used in sealing CU,BU and VVPATs (before commencement of poll and after close of poll).

8. Transportation of polled EVMs from Polling Stations to Collection Centre

a) Candidates/Polling agents are allowed to follow vehicles carrying polled EVMs  from polling station to collection centre.

9. Storage of Polled EVMs.

a) Polled EVMs are stored in the strong room in the presence of Candidates/their representatives.

b) Candidates/their representatives are also allowed to put their seals on the locks of the strong room.

c) Candidates/their representatives are also allowed to monitor storage and security of polled EVMs.

10.  Counting Day

a) Polled EVM Strong Room is opened in the presence of Candidates/their representatives, Returning Officer, ECI Observer on counting day.

b)  Counting of votes is done in the presence of candidates and counting agents appointed by them.

c) After completion of counting of votes, VVPAT slips are taken out from VVPATs and stored in black envelope in the presence of the candidates/their representatives.

d) After counting of votes, CU, BU and VVPAT slips are kept in the strong rooms in the presence of candidates/their representatives. They are allowed to put their seals on the locks of the strong rooms.

As can be seen from the above, all stakeholders , representatives of political parties and candidates witness and participate in all electoral processes on EVMs and are also kept well informed about the status and list of EVMs to be used for various purposes during the election.

EVMs are always in secure storage during pre-poll, poll and post poll stages. They are kept in EVMwarehouse/Strong room under the custody of District Election Officer at all times. Also, EVMs are always stored in warehouse/strong room with:

 i). 24x7 CCTV coverage

 ii)Double lock System

iii) Armed security (Minimum half Section during non-election period and full section during election period)

iv) Polled EVMs are kept in strong rooms with One Platoon of CAPF security at the inner cordon and State Armed Police at the outer cordon

 v)DEOs conduct Monthly inspections to check the external condition of the EVM warehouse and Quarterly inspections to check the internal condition of the warehouse and submit inspection reports along with photos.

vi) After announcement of result, in the presence of the candidates/their representatives, BU, CU are sealed in their carrying case and VVPAT slips are taken out from the VVPATs and sealed in black envelopes. The BU, CU and VVPAT slips and other election materials are kept in the Strong Room under the custody of the District Election Officer concerned till the timeframe for filing Election Petition gets over i.e. 45 days from the date of declaration of result. If any Election Petition is filed before the Hon’ble High Court concerned, the respective Units are kept till final disposal of the petition. VVPAT slips are kept as per Rule 94 of the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961.

 EVM warehouse/strong room is always opened and closed under prior intimation to and in the presence of the stake holders namely representatives of recognised political parties/candidates and under videography.

After the poll, the EVMs are stored in a strong room with a single access door and a two layered security cordon. Agents appointed by the candidates are allowed to keep watch over the EVMs round the clock till the counting. Locks to the strong rooms where the EVMs are stored are sealed with signatures of election officials as well as those of candidates or their representatives. The extant instructions of ECI make sure that all stake holders are involved in all the steps of EVM storage and movement. Thus, there is no implicit trust requirement and all stake holders jointly guard the polled EVMs. Some of the safeguards to maintain integrity are as under:

i). List of Serial numbers of EVMs used in the poll is shared with candidates/their agents along with the detail of number of votes polled in respective EVMs to verify the same at the time of counting of votes.

ii). After poll, EVMs are sealed in their carrying cases at the polling stations in the presence of polling agents and they are also allowed to put their signatures on the seals besides the polling officer.

 iii).The only power source (battery) available for the VVPAT to function is removed at the polling station in the presence of the polling agents after completion of the poll.

 iv).Live feed of CCTV covering entry of Strong Rooms of polled EVMs is given to representatives of candidates camping at counting centre.

  v). Two-tier security arrangements are made at the Strong Room having polled EVMs.

 vi).Further, on counting day the EVM Seals and Serial Nos: are also checked by the counting agents of candidates before start of counting.

As can be seen every aspect of polled EVMs is handled transparently with active participation of representatives of candidates and nothing is left to trust on the custody chain.

Yes, First Level Checking of EVMs is conducted in the presence of the representatives of the recognized political parties. For this purpose, a written invitation is given to the recognized political parties by the District Election Officer at district headquarters and copy endorsed to the state headquarters of the political parties.

After completion of FLC, FLC-rejected units are sent to BEL/ECIL for rectification. Upon rectification, the units are available for deployment in the filed for subsequent elections.

FLC rejected units are also analyzed by the manufacturers and Technical Expert Committee for future improvements to reduce field rejections.

VVPAT paper slips generated during FLC are disposed on daily basis/ regularly through paper shredding machine. The purpose of shredding VVPAT slips is to prevent from any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips to generate fake stories or misinformation. It is to be noted that VVPAT slips printed during the FLC have only dummy symbols.

Yes. After completion of FLC, the list of FLC accepted EVMs and VVPATs (containing unique ID of each unit) is provided to all the recognised political parties and also to candidates, when candidates are finalised.

No. Electrical repair is strictly prohibited in the field. Only mechanical repair like changing of button, flaps, latches etc. is allowed during FLC in which no electrical repair is involved. In FLC, needless to say that the representatives of the recognised political parties are invited to witness entire process.

After FLC, FLC-OK Units are stored in the Strong Room under double lock in the presence of the representatives of the recognised political parties. The Strong Room has 24x7 CCTV coverage and one section of armed security. The Strong Room is only opened in the presence of the representatives of the recognised political parties/candidates under videography, whenever prescribed to distribution.

During poll, as per defined Replacement protocol if a BU or CU of a particular polling station goes out of order, (the fault is displayed on CU display) then the full set of BU, CU, and VVPAT is replaced with a new set from the Reserve EVMs in the presence of the polling agents appointed by the candidates. The votes recorded until the stage when the EVM went out of order, remain safe in the memory of the Control Unit and the VVPAT ballot slips compartment. In case only the VVPAT goes out of order, the votes recorded in the CU remain safe in its memory and therefore the polling is resumed after replacing the non-functional VVPAT with another VVPATfrom the Reserve machines. On the counting day, votes recorded in all EVMs used in that polling station are counted to give the aggregate result of that polling station.  If the recorded votes in the Control Units cannot be ascertained due to any technical reason,VVPAT slips of the respective Control Units are counted to get the result.

The Control Unit can store the result in its memory until the data is deleted or cleared. Post every election, after the Election Petition period ECI ascertains the status of Election Petitions filed with the Hon’ble High Courts and releases the EVMs for further use if no Election Petitions have been filed. In cases where Election Petitions have been filed the related EVMs are retained securely, as per defined protocol, till the final disposal of the petition. In cases if the Hon’ble court orders a recount the control unit can be reactivated by fitting the battery to display the results stored in its memory. Moreover, VVPAT slips are also preserved till final disposal of Election petition.

There is no wastage of any vote in EVMs. The unused BU buttons are masked.  For example: if there are only 10 candidates including NOTA in a constituency, the unused ‘Candidate’ buttons provided at Sl. Nos: 11 to 16 will be physically ‘masked’ (covered) at the time of preparation of EVM by Returning Officer. Therefore, there is no possibility of any voter pressing any of the masked buttons at Sl Nos: 11 to 16.

Yes. On the Poll Day before the commencement of poll, the Presiding Officer demonstrates to the polling agents present that there are no “hidden” votes already recorded in the CU by pressing the result button on CU. The CU display shows zero vote against all candidates. Similarly, the P.O also opens the ballot compartment of VVPAT and shows to polling agents that it is empty. Thereafter, he/she conducts a Mock -Poll with at least 50 votes in the presence of the polling agents and tallies the electronic result stored in the CU with VVPAT slip count. After mock poll, the Presiding Officer presses the “Clear Button” to clear the result of the mock poll before commencing the actual poll. Then he again demonstrates to polling agents, by pressing 'Total' button that CU display shows '0' votes and that VVPAT  ballot compartment is empty. He then seals the Control Unit and VVPAT in the presence of polling agents before starting actual poll.

In addition to the 'Result' button, there is a ‘Total’ button on Control Unit of EVMs. By pressing this button any time during poll, the total number of votes polled up to the time of pressing the button will be displayed without indicating the candidate-wise result. At the end of poll, the ‘Close’ button is pressed after which the machine does not accept any more votes. By pressing the Total button at end of poll, the total number of votes polled in the CU after poll is obtained and recorded by the Presiding Officer in Form 17-C and Presiding Officer’s diary. Copy of Form 17-C is shared with the polling agents of the candidates.

Yes, a prototype of the device called 'Totaliser' that can accommodate up to 14 CUs at a time and aggregate votes without revealing the candidate-wise count of individual EVMs used at a particular polling station was considered. However, Totalisers are not in use at present as its technical aspects and other statutory/administrative related issues are under examination and matter is sub-judice.

Compulsory counting of printed paper slips of VVPAT is done only in the following cases:

i)In case of “no display” of result on the Control Unit the printed paper slips of respective VVPAT(s) are counted. These slips have been verified by voters at the time of casting their votes.

ii) As directed by the Honourable Supreme court of India, mandatory verification of printed VVPAT paper slips of five randomly selected polling stations of each Assembly Constituency or each Assembly Segment in case of election to the House of the People, before declaring result.

Before poll, details like serial number, symbol etc. are allocated to the candidates. During Commissioning of EVMs or Preparation of EVMs , serial numbers, names of candidates and symbols allotted to them are used to prepare the Ballot sheet on laptop / PC provided by DEO. This sheet is loaded in VVPAT  units using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU). The preparation of Ballot sheet and its loading in the VVPAT is done with the help of Manpower for preparation . (Authorised engineers of the manufacturer i.e., ECIL / BEL) in the presence of candidates / their agents. The SLU also facilitates the representatives of recognised political parties / candidates / their agents to simultaneously view symbols being loaded in the VVPAT on a big monitor or TV screen.

Symbols are loaded in Symbol Loading Unit (SLU), in presence of contesting candidates or their authorized representatives present, from a Windows Operating System based Symbol Loading Application (SLA) developed by the manufacturers i.e. BEL/ECIL.

The SLA is installed in the PC/Laptop provided by DEO/RO. In SLA a ‘VVPAT sheet’ or electronic ballot paper is created as graphic image (.bmp format) by entering Number of Candidates (including NOTA), name and symbol of the candidates. This graphic image (in graphic data .bmp format/an image or picture in digital format) is uploaded into the SLU from PC/Laptop through a USB cable.

The size of graphical data loaded onto the VVPAT through SLU is 4 KB with a graphical resolution of 192x168 pixels. This data has the Serial numbers, Names and Symbols of the contesting candidates including NOTA.

After finalization of list of contesting candidates and second randomization of EVMs (polling-station wise allocation of EVM plus reserve EVMs), entire process of commissioning of EVMs is done in the presence of candidates/their representatives. There are several ways to confirm that correct symbols are loaded in VVPAT:

(i) As part of the commissioning process, symbol loading is done through Symbol Loading Unit (SLU). The candidates/their representatives can view live loading of the Serial Number, Name and Symbol of the Candidates in the VVPATs on specially provided TV/Monitor. Please refer the Annexure for Block Diagram of the Symbol Loading process.

(ii) Further, a long VVPAT slip containing the Serial Number, Name and Symbol of all the Candidates including NOTA is printed in the sequence in which they are in ballot paper affixed on the Ballot Units. The test printout is signed and certified by RO/ARO.

(iii) During commissioning one vote to each contesting candidate including NOTA is cast in each EVM (BU+CU+VVPAT) and verified with VVPAT slip count.

(iv) In addition, 1000 votes are cast in randomly selected 5% of EVM (BU+CU+ VVPAT) and electronic result from CUs is tallied with VVPAT slip count. Candidates/their representatives are allowed to pick VVPATs and cast votes, if they so desire.

(v) On the poll day, mock poll is conducted in each polling stations. Polling agents present can again confirm use of correct symbols for their respective candidates.

VVPAT slips generated during commissioning of EVMs are destroyed daily /regularly through paper shredding machine. The purpose of shredding VVPAT slips is to prevent any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips to generate fake stories or misinformation. It is to be noted that VVPAT slips printed during the commissioning process have actual symbols of the candidates.

During the Preparation of VVPAT, the test printout of the Serial numbers, names and symbols of candidates loaded in VVPAT is mandated to be taken by the Returning officer /Assistant Returning officer at the time of preparation for cross checking with the ballot paper in Ballot Unit. Thereafter, one vote to each candidate including NOTA is cast to check that the VVPAT is printing the paper slips correctly in respect of all the candidates.

After completion of poll i.e. when the last voter has voted, the Officer in-charge of the Control Unit/Presiding Officer presses the ‘Close’ button. Thereafter, the EVM  does not accept any vote. The poll ‘start time’ and ‘end time’ are recorded in the machine as well as by the Presiding Officer. After the close of poll, the Control Unit is switched off and thereafter the Ballot Unit is disconnected from the Control Unit and kept separately in their respective carrying cases and sealed. Further, the Presiding officer has to hand over to each polling agent a copy of the account of total votes recorded in Form 17-C . At the time of counting of votes, the total votes recorded in a particular control unit is tallied with this account and if there is any discrepancy, this can be pointed out by the Counting Agents of candidates.

At time of poll, a voter casts his/her vote by pressing the candidate button of his/her choice and verifies from printed slip of VVPAT which has the details of candidate he/she has voted for. Counting of votes is conducted in absolute transparency in the presence of all the contesting candidates and counting agents authorised by the candidates. To ascertain the result from the Control Unit, no special knowledge is required. The Counting Officials just press the “RESULT” button of the Control Unit, and Candidate-wise result is automatically displayed on the display panel of the Control Unit. For this only the basic training required for the officials is imparted to them. A list giving Serial Nos. of BU, CU, and VVPAT deployed in all polling stations in the AC/AS is shared with the candidates after the second randomisation. All votes of CUs and VVPATs are counted in the presence of political parties and candidates present after verifying the intactness of seals and serial numbers of the EVMs with the list of EVMs deployed in the polling stations which was given in advance.  Subsequently, the matching ofVVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations with their CU counts is also done in the presence of all political parties and candidates to establish the correlation between the ‘vote cast and vote counted’ with a very high level of confidence. The voters can therefore ascertain that their vote has been ‘cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded’ without any expert knowledge. The tallying of a sample of five VVPATs per AC/AS with the CU count has been mandated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. In fact, for the parliamentary general elections this mandate boils down to tallying the ballot slip counts of 20,625 randomly chosen VVPATs with the electronic counts of their Control units. If no mismatch betweenEVMandVVPAT counts is found in such a sample, then it provides a very high statistical guarantee that the sanctity of the election process is not affected by the use of EVMs. Till date ballot slips of41, 629 randomly selected VVPATs have been tallied with the electronic counts of their Control Units and not a single case of transfer of vote meant for candidate ’A’ to candidate ‘B’ has been encountered. Differences in count if any have always been traceable to human errors like non-deletion of Mock-Poll votes from Control Unit or non-removal of Mock-Poll slips from VVPAT.

The EVM system is as simple as a basic calculator. No expert knowledge is required to operate or cast votes on EVM. All ECI-EVM related processes are easy to monitor and are conducted transparently in the presence of stakeholders. Ordinary Citizens are able to check the truthful recording of their votes through verification of printedVVPAT ballot slip by each voter, and the subsequent tallying of VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations of every AC/AS with the electronic count of the corresponding Control Units to establish a strong correlation between the vote cast and the vote counted as cast with an extremely high level of confidence.

In fact, for the parliamentary general elections the mandate of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India boils down to tallying the ballot slip counts of 20,625 randomly chosen VVPATs with the electronic counts of their Control units. If no mismatch betweenEVMandVVPAT counts is found in such a sample, then it can be said with near certainty that the sanctity of the election process is not disturbed by the use of EVMs. Till date ballot slips of41, 629 randomly selected VVPATs have been tallied with the electronic counts of their Control Units and not a single case of transfer of vote meant for candidate ’A’ to candidate ‘B’ has been detected. Differences in count if any have always been traceable to human errors like non-deletion of Mock-Poll votes from Control Unit or non-removal of Mock-Poll slips fromVVPAT, wherein it is possible to identify and remove the mock poll votes.

ECI-EVM has always been a truthful machine. A close look at the results of Legislative Assembly Elections and the Lok Sabha Elections ( Annexure-II and Annexure-III) shows how the party with maximum number of seats has changed over time and amply proves the integrity of the EVMs. With the introduction of VVPAT the ECI EVM system enables voters to immediately verify that their vote is cast as intended by observing the VVPAT ballot slip which contains the name, serial number and symbol of the candidate for whom vote is cast. The votes are counted as recorded in Control Unit. The correlation between the ballot slip printed by VVPAT and the vote recorded in the EVM is established statistically with a very high degree of confidence by tallying the electronic count of the Control Unit with the VVPAT slip count of five randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency /segment. 

The matter regarding mandatory verification of VVPAT slips count has already been settled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by its order dated 8^th April, 2019. In pursuance of that order ECI has been mandatorily verifying VVPAT slips of randomly selected 5 polling stations per assembly constituency/segment (in Parliamentary constituency elections).

It is highlighted that apart from the above, verification ofVVPAT slips is done at various stages of the election process in the presence of representatives of recognised political parties/candidates as follows:

i) During FLC – in 5% machines selected randomly (1200 votes in 1%, 1000 votes in 2% & 500 votes in 2%)

ii) During Commissioning – in 5% machines selected randomly (1000 votes)

iii) Mock-Poll before actual poll – in 100% machines (at least 50 votes)

The extant instructions of ECImake sure that all stake holders are involved in all the steps of EVMstorage, movement, checking FLC and preparation (Commissioning), distribution to polling parties, Mock-Poll on poll day and during polling itself. This is to ensure transparency and to build trust amongst the public at large.

Firstly, the counting of VVPAT slips is done as per well-established procedure as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and is not done in an ad-hoc manner. Further, the statute also provides an opportunity for the candidates to request for the VVPAT slip count under Rule 56D of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. The option of filing an Election Petition after declaration of result is also available for the contesting candidates wherein each and every VVPAT slip may be counted as per direction of the Hon’ble Court.

i. If powerpack of Control Unit of EVM gets drained out on voting day, the powerpack is replaced with Reserve power pack of the EVM by the Presiding Officer in presence of the polling agents and Sector Officer. Upon replacement, the powerpack Section of the Control Unit is re-sealed with address tag and signatures of the polling agents are also obtained on the tag.

ii. If power pack of VVPAT goes non-functional on voting day, the power pack is replaced with reserve power pack of VVPAT by the Presiding Officer in presence of the polling agents and sector officer.

However, the need to change power packs occurs rarely.

Yes, the awareness campaign of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted approximately 3 months prior to announcement of election. This is done by way of physical display and/or demonstration of the machines in public. For physical demonstration-cum-awareness on use of EVM and VVPAT, EVM Demonstration Centre(s) is set up at District Election Office and at the Returning Officer Headquarters/Revenue Sub-Division Offices. A Mobile Demonstration Van is deployed for every Assembly Constituency/Segment to cover all polling locations/ clusters at least once.

After announcement of election, no physical demonstration or awareness on use of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted just to avoid any fake narrative or misinformation. Thereafter, only digital outreach (various digital medium) is conducted.

Yes, candidates have the information. Before commissioning of EVMs, second randomization of EVMs (BU+CU+VVPAT) is done through EVM Management System (EMS) to allocate them polling station-wise. The unallocated EVMs are kept as reserve EVMs. The list of randomized EVMs including reserve EVMs is generated through EMS. The signatures of candidates/their representatives are obtained in the list. A copy of this list is provided to each candidate.

Yes, the purpose of such instruction is to prevent the printing of VVPAT slips with actual symbols of the candidates, and hence to prevent any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips so printed, in terms of generating fake stories or disinformation, spreading rumour, etc.

There was no such incidence as claimed. The statement is false and baseless as polled EVMs cannot be replaced with any other EVMs. Any such reporting is only in the nature of fake news/disinformation

Replacement of EVMs is not possible as:

• List of EVMs and VVPATs to be used in elections are shared with the National and State Recognized Political Parties/Candidates in advance at the time of FLC and Commissioning.
• During Commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, signatures of candidates/ their representatives are taken on the seals used in sealing EVMs and VVPATs at that time. The same can be verified during counting.
• On poll day also machines are sealed in presence of Polling Agents and signatures of Polling Agents appointed by the candidates are taken. The same can also be verified during counting.
• After completion of poll, polled EVMs and VVPATs are escorted back to Reception Centre. Moreover, candidates/ polling agents are allowed to follow the vehicles having polled machines.
• Polled machines are stored in the strong room in the presence of candidates/ their representatives under double lock system, 24x7 CCTV and 24X7 Armed Security.
• Candidates/ their representatives are allowed to station and watch the strong room till EVM/VVPAT are taken out for counting in their presence.
• Opening and closing of EVM warehouse/strong room is done in the presence of the recognized political parties/candidates/their representatives under videography.

Political Parties/Candidates are well aware about the above facts.

It is factually incorrect. There can be no question of pre-polled votes because:

• Prior to actual poll, mock poll is conducted at every polling station in the presence of candidates or polling agents appointed by them.
• In mock poll at least 50 votes are cast by the polling agents appointed by the candidates. Mock poll result of EVM is tallied with VVPAT slips count to ensure machines function correctly.
• After mock poll result is cleared from the EVM and VVPAT, mock poll slips are kept in black envelope and sealed. It is also shown to them that EVM has no vote and VVPAT has no slip.
• Thereafter, EVM and VVPAT are sealed in presence of them. Signatures of polling agents are obtained on seals that can be verified during counting.
• There were some instances in which mock poll result had not been deleted or mock VVPAT slips had not been removed, due to human error of polling staff. To deal all such cases there are comprehensive Instructions of the Commission in the public domain and in the training manual. In such cases, they are set aside i.e. counting of votes is not done from these machines, if the winning margin is more than the votes recorded in such machines, such cases are very rare in number.

Moreover, when RESULT BUTTON of the Control Unit is pressed to ascertain the result, the display panel of the Control Unit also displays Poll Start Time (PST) and Poll End Time (PET). Hence, any vote cast before scheduled poll time can be identified.

Yes. Each Ballot Unit, Control Unit andVVPAT has a unique Serial Number (ID), which is engraved on the cabinet or on metal plate riveted to the cabinet. While all EVM units are identical in operation and looks their allocation is subject to various process like randomisation, need to be transported and pre-tested (FLC) before polls. Hence for accounting purpose ID is needed for every Unit. For example, EVMs go through First Randomisation, first time to allocate them Assembly Constituency wise and Second Randomization, second time to allocate them Polling Station wise. The list containing unique ID number of EVM (Ballot Unit, Control Unit &VVPAT to be used in a particular assembly constituency and polling station is provided to the contesting candidates / their agents. The same can be tallied anytime during the polling / counting.

i) Unique ID of Control Unit also displayed on display panel of Control Unit.

ii) Unique ID of VVPAT is printed on each VVPAT slip.

No, the arrangement of names of candidates in the ballot paper of the Ballot Unit is in alphabetical order, first for the National & State Recognised Political Parties, followed by other State Registered Parties, and then by independent candidates. Thus, the sequence in which the candidates’ names appear on the Ballot paper of the BU is dependent on the names of the candidates and their party affiliation and keeps changing from one election to another. Therefore, the sequence cannot be ascertained much in advance. EVMs are allocated to polling station after two stages of randomisation process through EVM Management System, EMS software application developed by the Commission. After First Level Checking FLC of EVMs, First Randomization of EVMs is done at the District Election Officer level to allocate them Assembly Constituency-wise in the presence of the representative of recognised political parties. Thereafter, before Commissioning of EVMs , Second Randomisation of EVMs is done at the Returning Officer level to allocate them Polling Station-wise in the presence of candidates / their agents. Two levels of randomisations eliminate any scope of determining before-hand the polling station-wise deployment pattern of machines.

First Level Checking (FLC) of EVMs/VVPATs is a process in which the units are checked before using in elections. Only the FLC passed EVMs /VVPATs are used in election. FLC is conducted in the presence of the representatives of the National and State recognised political parties,

The process is called First Level Checking because well before the announcement of election by the Election Commission of India, the units to be used in elections are checked by the authorized engineers of the manufacturers to ensure only functional EVMs and VVPATs are available for using in upcoming elections. The FLC is carried out under the supervision of the District Election Officer.

During the life cycle, EVM/VVPAT travels long distances to various State/UTs with different environmental conditions like extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme ranges of humidity etc. With ultimate goal of minimum replacement rate (to avoid any inconvenience to voters) during actual poll, First Level Check is mandatory process prescribed by the Commission before actual deployment of units in the elections.

Manual on Electronic Voting Machine (Chapter 2) may be referred for further details on FLC.

Before every election all EVMs to be used in an election undergo a thorough physical and functional check to ensure poll worthiness. These checks are called FLC(First Level Check).

Manpower in FLC consists of only authorized engineers of the manufacturers, namely Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), who conduct the First Level Checking (FLC) of EVMs and VVPATs under control of District Election Officer and direct supervision of Dy. DEO in the presence of representative of recognised Political Parties.

The following processes are involved in First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs, which are conducted in the presence of the representatives of the recognized political parties:

1. Cleaning of Machines:

It includes dusting and removal of earlier address tags, ballot papers, cleaning of unwanted superscriptions from EVMs/VVPATs.

2. Visual Inspection:

Visual Inspection of BU, CU, VVPAT, connecting cable, connector, latches, carrying cases etc., is conducted to ensure there is no physical damage or breakage of plastic parts, latches, switches etc.

3. Internal inspection of BU/CU/VVPAT:

In order to provide assurance to the political parties, the authorised engineers ensure opening of Cabinets of BU and CU in the presence of the representatives of National and State Recognised Political parties during FLC and carry out visual inspection of PCB and check for spurious components, if any. Authorised engineers certify the same in prescribed format.

4. Functionality Checks using Pre-FLC Unit (P-FLCU):

The functionality and electrical checks of CU, BU and VVPAT are conducted using Pre-FLC Unit (P-FLCU).

5. Symbol Loading in VVPAT using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU):

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is moved to Symbol Loading stage. Symbol loading in VVPAT is done using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) and having facilitation of simultaneous viewing of symbol loading on TV/Monitor (at least 24”) to the representatives of National and State Recognized political parties who are present during the FLC. It may be noted that only dummy symbols are loaded in the VVPATs for conduct of FLC and Mock polls.

6. Casting of 96 Votes:

P-FLCU passed CU, BU and VVPAT (after symbol loading) are connected and 96 votes are cast [i.e.6 votes to each candidate button of the BU (16x6=96)]. Electronic result of EVMs and paper count of VVPAT slips are verified. Thereafter, result is cleared from Control Unit. This process is conducted for all units available for FLC i.e. BU/CU/VVPAT.

7. FLC Sticker Labelling:

Once a unit passes the above stages, Green FLC OK sticker is pasted on Control Unit (CU)/ Ballot Unit (BU)/ Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). Red Sticker with reason is pasted on FLC rejected units. Signatures of BEL/ECIL Engineers and the representatives of DEO are made on both the stickers as applicable. Pink paper seals are pasted on CU and signed by FLC Engineer and FLC Supervisor. The representatives of the recognised political parties are also permitted to sign on the seals.

8. Conduct of Mock Poll:

Mock poll in 5% of randomly selected EVMs (i.e. 1200 votes in 1% EVMs, 1000 votes in 2% EVMs and 500 votes in 2% EVMs), using VVPATs, is conducted in the presence of representative of recognized National and State Political Parties. Counting of printed ballot slips of each VVPAT is verified/tallied with the electronic result of the respective CU. The results are shown to the representatives of the recognized National and State Political Parties and their signatures are taken in a prescribed register. It is to be noted that for the purpose of mock poll and also to do the mock poll the representatives of the recognised political parties are allowed to pick machines randomly themselves.

First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs for use in election is conducted before every election.

In case of general elections to State Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha, FLC is generally conducted at least 4 months and 6 months respectively before election. In case of byeelection, FLC is conducted generally within 1 month of occurrence of vacancy.

Every vote is verified by the voter and given the available provision in the statute ( Rule 49 MA ) for the voter to report any discrepancy between his choice of vote in the BU and VVPAT slip, such a modified system may be superfluous.

No, there is no prescribed cut-off or range for the same.

The Commission has only prescribed minimum availability of 120% BU, 120% CU and 130% of VVPAT after FLC compared to number of polling stations.

The design of ECI-EVM has indeed been periodically updated to take advantage of advancements in technology. For example, the current model (M3) of the ECI-EVMuses public key encryption and digital certificates for mutual authentication by units of the EVM.Thus, in EVMs, newer models have upgraded technology including security measures commensurate with emerging threats.

The salient features of ECI-EVMs are in public domain as in publications namely, Presentation on EVM, Manual on EVM, Status Paper on EVM and Legal History of EVM starting from broad overview go to minute details . Further there are Laws and Rules in above mentioned references that allow voter or candidate to make a complaint or take a legal recourse. ECI also holds open debates around EVM and election processes time to time.

EVM stands for Electronic Voting Machine. It is a device used to electronically record and count votes cast in elections. The Indian Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system is also termed as ECI-EVM , meaning an EVM specifically designed, manufactured and used for Elections as per election procedure and rules framed by Election Commission of India and documented in manual on EVM , so as to differentiate it from EVMs used   in other countries.

ECI – EVM consists of Ballot Unit (BU ), Control Unit ( CU ) and the later added Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). EVMs come under the overall category of DRE voting machines, or Direct Recording Electronic voting machine systems, which is one of the many voting methodologies available worldwide. ECI-EVMs are considered more efficient and accurate than paper ballots, as they eliminate the possibility of invalid votes due to unclear or improperly marked (stamped) paper ballots, reduce the time required for counting and ensure that a vote is registered for a single candidate only.

For detailed information on various aspects of ECI-EVM , the following documents may be referred:

The Presentation on EVM booklet is a short comprehensive guide on ECI-EVMs. Starting with a historical perspective it covers the technical safeguards and administrative safeguards, procedures governing the secure design , production , transportation storage and deployment of EVMs in elections. The transparent administrative processes ofECIsolicit the presence and participation of recognised political parties at all stages of EVM deployment . The presentation covers the debate around EVMs and the oft-repeated and misplaced international comparisons. A few slides also cover the Judicial scrutiny the EVM has endured and passed with flying colours.

The Manual on EVM contains the gist of all-important instructions on use of BU, CU and VVPAT and serves as a ready reference. The Manual is divided into four parts. Part 1 covers Storage process and Movement of EVM during Election and Non-election period, First Level Checking, First Randomisation and Training and Awareness on EVMs. Part 2 covers all processes from Second randomisation to Counting of Votes . Part 3 gives the historical perspective and legal perspective and Part 4 contains Annexures and reporting Formats.

ECI takes special care through pre-poll First Level Checking ( FLC ) before conducting poll to ensure that EVMs to be used are fit for use in elections. A very secure process of handling EVMs in poll is followed with participation of recognised political parties / candidates/their representatives.

The EVM  Storage and Movement of EVM is done through EVM Management System ( EMS ) to ensure efficient management and control of ECI-EVMstock.

The booklet Status Paper on EVM covers in brief the journey of EVMs in India since its conceptualisation in 1977 to the present along with the socio-political feedback on introduction of EVMs. It also highlights various legal interventions and court cases in its long journey of over four decades. The role of Technical Expert Committee , and various aspects such as design and manufacturing protocol , EVM safety and security features , and stringent administrate procedure for handing EVMs along with International comparison .

Appendix 1 and 2 of this booklet provide some interesting facts on use of EVMs in elections which clearly bring out all possible permutations of electoral outcomes both favouring and disfavouring National and State Political Parties.

The Legal History of EVMs booklet provides a useful insight into EVM inception and milestones , first usage of EVM, Legislative amendment to enable usage of EVM, Legal provisions regarding EVM&VVPAT, and Judicial Decisions on EVM & VVPAT

In the Paper Ballot system, the list of contesting candidates is printed on a paper (ballot paper) along with serial number, name and symbol of the candidates. There is a specific space allocated for each contesting candidate where a vote can be cast by voter by putting a mark. Thereafter, voter needs to fold the ballot paper in a specified manner and to deposit in the Ballot Box. For Counting votes obtained by that candidate, only correctly marked votes are counted.

Some of the major issues with ballot paper voting are that (i) many votes become invalid due to improper marking/ink smudging (ii) Ballot boxes are also susceptible to “stuffing with spurious votes” by capturing the booth for few minutes. (iii) Voting with pre-marked ballot papers. (iv) Manual counting of votes is prone to errors and mischief and takes a lot of days.In the ECI-EVM system of voting, the Control Unit is placed with the Presiding Officer (In-Charge CU) and the Ballot Unit(s) and VVPAT are placed inside the Voting Compartment. Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit releases the electronic Ballot by pressing the “Ballot Button” on the Control Unit. This enables the voter to cast his/her vote by pressing the “blue button” (Candidate button) on the Ballot Unit against the candidate of his/her choice. When the voter presses a button against the candidate of his/her choice on Ballot Unit, a red LED glows against the chosen candidate’s button on BU. A paper slip showing the serial number, name and the symbol of the candidate of his/her choice is generated and is visible for about 7 seconds through transparent window of VVPAT.

Hence the voter is able to see the “printed slip” and verify that vote is cast as per his/her choice.  Thereafter, the printed paper slip gets cut automatically and stored in sealed Drop Box of VVPAT. A loud BEEP is heard from the Control Unit which confirms that the vote is registered successfully. The signal flow at the time of voting between BU, CU &VVPAT is shown in Annexure-I The VVPAT paper slips can be later used for verifying the electronic count obtained from CU in case of a dispute. This record of VVPAT printed paper slips verified by voter and the process of correlating VVPAT and CU count as per established mandatory verification procedure makes the voting on EVMs trustworthy Hence it can be seen that no technical knowledge is required for casting a Vote on the EVM and ordinary citizens can easily cast their votes on ECI EVMs.

Advantages of ECI-EVM voting system:

(i) As voting is done by pressing a button, these is no invalid vote as in paper ballot system.

(ii) Booth capturing has been eliminated by technology used in EVMs and administrative procedures such that capturing booth is not worthwhile even if attempted. EVM voting system does not permit more than 4 votes per minute under any circumstances. Thus it takes too long a time to cast a substantial number of votes giving sufficient time to security forces to respond to the Booth Capturing attempt.

(iii)  No possibility of voting after CLOSE button is pressed at the close of poll.

(iv) It ensures quick, error free and mischief free counting of votes.

(v)  Voter is instantly able to verify that his / her vote has been cast correctly by verifying the VVPAT ’s printed slip.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) consisting of Ballot Unit (BU) & Control Unit (CU) were used for the first time in the by-elections to Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in 1982.

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail with EVM was used for first time in the by election to Noksen Assembly Constituency of Nagaland in 2013.

14th August 2013.

Presently, the M3 Model of ECI-EVM and VVPAT are used. Similar to the earlier Models, M3 EVMs / VVPATs are also non-networked, stand-alone units that run on power-packs / batteries of their own.

Post -Lok Sabha Election, 2019,ECIhas been using only M3 Model EVMs and VVPATs in all the elections. M3 EVMs were first introduced in year 2013-14, and the model gradually replacing the earlier models as and when they were phased out. During Lok Sabha, 2019,  VVPATs were deployed in all polling stations of the country, and a total of 17.40 Lakhs VVPATunits were available for the Elections. The amount of money spent on the procurement of M3 model machines is given in table below:

EVMs/VVPATs are not imported but indigenously designed and manufactured by two Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) namely Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), under the Ministry of Defence and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy under the guidance of the Technical Experts Committee (TEC) constituted by the Election Commission of India.

The cost of CU, BU and VVPAT is finalised by the Price Negotiation Committee constituted by the Government of India. The present cost of a BU is Rs.7,991/-, CU is Rs.9,812/- and VVPAT is Rs.16,132/-. The economic life of EVMs is approximately 15 years.

The  ECI-EVM system can record a maximum of 2,000 votes but generally it is used for recording 1500 votes only.

Each Ballot Unit can cater to 16 candidates including NOTA. A total of 24 BUs can be connected to a CU to make a set of EVM. Therefore, when required, one set of EVM can cater up to a maximum of 384 candidates including NOTA.

EVM and VVPAT do not require any external power supply. EVM and VVPAT run on their own battery/ power-packs supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited / Electronics Corporation of India Limited. EVM runs on a Power Pack of 7.5 Volts and VVPAT runs on a power-pack of 22.5 Volts

Yes, during simultaneous elections two separate sets of EVMs are required in a polling station; one for the Parliamentary Constituency and the other for the Legislative Assembly Constituency.

As soon as the voter presses the `blue button’ on the BU against the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate of his/her choice, an LED against the candidate button glows red and the VVPAT prints a slip having serial number, name and symbol of the chosen candidate which is visible for about 7 seconds before getting cut and stored in the sealed Drop Box of the VVPAT. A loud beep sound from the CU confirms the registration of the vote. Thus, there is both audio and visual indication for the voter to be assured that his/her vote has been recorded.

EVMs are electronic machines and like any other machine they are also vulnerable to failures. The failed machines are sent to the factories for rectification. However, there is no question of any machine ‘malfunctioning’ in a way so as to favour a particular candidate, which is called tampering as per defined EVM protocol. This scenario is just not possible with the many safeguards incorporated in design of EVM itself.

Yes, Election Commission has full control over entire voting process.  All election officials work directly under the direction, supervision and control of Election Commission of India during the election period.

Rating of power pack of CU is 7.5Volts, 2AH. Rating of power pack of VVPAT is 22.5 volts, 4AH. BU uses the same power pack as the CU when more than four BUs are used. May also please refer General Queries FAQ Qn.no.12.

The power packs of CU and VVPAT are periodically monitored and the balance power status is displayed by the Control Unit as “High”, “Medium”, “Low”, “Marginal” and “Change Battery” along with the percentage.

The power packs are replaced from the “Reserve” power packs available with the Sector Officers when the “Change Battery” status is displayed by the CU.

The VVPAT printed slip is approximately 99mm x 56mm in size. The VVPAT slip is basically thermal paper with a print retention capability of about five years when stored properly.

Printed slip of VVPAT contains the following information:

1. Candidate Serial Number
2. Name of the Candidate
3. Symbol of party or Candidate
4. Session Number
5. VVPAT ID

These details could be viewed by the voter.

Yes. VVPAT slips have the unique ID number of the VVPAT that printed the slips. Therefore, from the unique ID number mentioned on the VVPAT printed slips, we will be able to identify the source VVPAT.

First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted by the authorised engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), as the case may be, at district headquarters under supervision of District Election Officer, and in the presence of the representatives of the National and State recognised political parties.

Election Commission of India provides EVMs on loan basis only to State Election Commissions (SEC) to conduct their local body elections, based on the requests received, considering the following conditions:

i. Law(s) governing Local Bodies elections provide for use of EVMs.

ii. Only those models of EVMs which are discontinued for deployment by ECI to conduct elections to Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies and which are within the period of economic life of 15 years are loaned.

iii. Subject to availability of such EVMs with ECI.

iv. ECI may seek any report from SECs about loaned EVMs as required.

No, commissioning of EVMs is done by the election officials deputed by the District Election Officer/Returning Officer in presence of contesting candidates or their authorized representatives present . Generally, two BEL/ECIL engineers per Assembly Constituency/Segment are available to assist in symbol loading in VVPATs.

After completion of economic life of EVMs/VVPATs, i.e. 15 years, EVMs/VVPATs are sent back to BEL/ECIL factories for destruction as per standard protocol. The following procedures are followed for destruction:

i. Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) shall be separated from Plastic Housings;

ii. All components mounted on PCBs shall be removed/chopped off and crushed;

iii. The bare PCBs shall be cut into minimum 4 pieces and crushed;

iv. The remaining plastic assemblies/housing shall also be cut into 4 to 6 pieces and crushed;

v. Plastic waste shall be recycled to ensure that environment is protected;

vi. Entire process of the disposal/destruction should be videographed;

vii. Recording of videography shall be disposed of by BEL/ECIL only after confirmation from ECI.

viii. The guidelines/safeguards for destruction of electronic items, issued by the Pollution Control Board/Ministry of Environment and Forests etc. or any other law for the time being in force, shall be followed;

ix. It shall be ensured that e-wastes are channelized to registered dismantler or recycler;

x. A proper record of each unit destroyed/destructed should be maintained.

It is easier to transport the EVMs, as compared to ballot boxes as EVMs are lighter, portable and come with custom-made carrying cases for ease of carriage/transport. EVMs are transported under extreme security and following elaborate safeguards.

The Election Commission of India has put in place an elaborate administrative system of security measures and procedural checks-and-balances aimed at prevention of any possible misuse or procedural lapses on use of EVMs and VVPATs in elections to the State Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies. These safeguards are implemented rigorously and transparently with the active involvement of the stakeholders i.e. National and State Recognised Political Parties or candidates/their representatives covering all the activities involving EVMs/VVPATs across the electoral process. All these activities are well documented by way of proceedings, letters, intimation, etc. by the District Election Officers (DEOs), Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) and other field officials. Listed below are the various stages in the electoral process where active participation of political parties and candidates is solicited by ECI for transparency and confidence building of the stake holders:

1. Opening and Closing of EVM warehouse

a) During non-election period till finalization of list of the contesting candidates, EVM-VVPAT warehouses are opened/closed (for any purpose like movement of EVMs, quarterly inspection etc.) in the presence of the representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties

b) With finalization of list of the contesting candidates, candidates and their representatives are involved while opening and closing of EVM-VVPAT warehouses/strong room.

c)  Opening and Closing of EVM warehouse/strong room is done under videography.

 2.     First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs

a)  First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted before every election by the authorised engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) at DEO level.

b)  For this purpose, National and State Recognised Political Parties at district headquarters are invited in writing by DEO concerned at least two days before the beginning of FLC and a copy is endorsed to state headquarters.

c) The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are involved to oversee entire FLC process.

d)  Higher Mock-Poll is conducted in 5% randomly selected EVMs (i.e. 1200 votes in 1% EVMs, 1000 votes in 2% EVMs and 500 votes in 2% EVMs). The electronic result of EVM is tallied with the VVPAT slips count. The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are allowed to pick 5% EVMs randomly and also to do Mock-Poll.

e) List of FLC ok EVMs is shared with all National and State Recognised Political Parties.

f) The representatives of National and State Recognised Political Parties are allowed to sign the seals, forms, register during FLC.

3. Taking out of EVMs for Training and Awareness after FLC

a) After completion of FLC, maximum up to 10% EVMs and VVPATs are taken out for awareness and training purpose in the presence of National and State Recognised Political Parties.

b)  The list of awareness and training EVMs is shared with them.

4. Randomization of EVMs.

a) First Randomization of EVMs is conducted in the presence of National and State Recognised Political Parties to allocate EVMs Assembly constituency/ segment-wise.

b) List of first randomized EVMs (AC/AS-wise) is shared with National and State Recognised Political Parties.

c)  After finalization of list of contesting candidate, list of first randomized EVMs  (AC/AS-wise) is also shared with contesting candidates.

d)  Second Randomization of EVMs is conducted to allocate EVMs polling station wise as well as for marking the Reserve EVMs which are to be used for replacement of machines which become non- functional on poll day. List of second randomized EVMs is shared with candidates.

5. Commissioning of EVMs.

a)  Commissioning of EVMs for use in poll is done in the presence of contesting candidates.

b) Candidates/their representatives are allowed to sign the seals used in sealing EVMs

c) Higher Mock-Poll is conducted in 5% randomly selected EVMs by casting 1000 votes. The electronic result of CU is tallied with the VVPAT slips count. Candidates/their representatives are allowed to pick 5% EVMs randomly and also to do mock poll.

6. Dispersal of EVMs  with Polling Parties.

a) Dispersal of EVMs is done in the presence of the contesting candidates.

7. Mock Poll and Actual Poll on Poll Day

a)  Mock-Poll on Poll day is conducted at every polling station in the presence of the polling agents nominated by the contesting candidates.

b) Polling agents nominated by the contesting candidates are allowed to remain in polling stations to observe polling process.

c) Polling agents are allowed to sign the seals used in sealing CU,BU and VVPATs (before commencement of poll and after close of poll).

8. Transportation of polled EVMs from Polling Stations to Collection Centre

a) Candidates/Polling agents are allowed to follow vehicles carrying polled EVMs  from polling station to collection centre.

9. Storage of Polled EVMs.

a) Polled EVMs are stored in the strong room in the presence of Candidates/their representatives.

b) Candidates/their representatives are also allowed to put their seals on the locks of the strong room.

c) Candidates/their representatives are also allowed to monitor storage and security of polled EVMs.

10.  Counting Day

a) Polled EVM Strong Room is opened in the presence of Candidates/their representatives, Returning Officer, ECI Observer on counting day.

b)  Counting of votes is done in the presence of candidates and counting agents appointed by them.

c) After completion of counting of votes, VVPAT slips are taken out from VVPATs and stored in black envelope in the presence of the candidates/their representatives.

d) After counting of votes, CU, BU and VVPAT slips are kept in the strong rooms in the presence of candidates/their representatives. They are allowed to put their seals on the locks of the strong rooms.

As can be seen from the above, all stakeholders , representatives of political parties and candidates witness and participate in all electoral processes on EVMs and are also kept well informed about the status and list of EVMs to be used for various purposes during the election.

EVMs are always in secure storage during pre-poll, poll and post poll stages. They are kept in EVMwarehouse/Strong room under the custody of District Election Officer at all times. Also, EVMs are always stored in warehouse/strong room with:

 i). 24x7 CCTV coverage

 ii)Double lock System

iii) Armed security (Minimum half Section during non-election period and full section during election period)

iv) Polled EVMs are kept in strong rooms with One Platoon of CAPF security at the inner cordon and State Armed Police at the outer cordon

 v)DEOs conduct Monthly inspections to check the external condition of the EVM warehouse and Quarterly inspections to check the internal condition of the warehouse and submit inspection reports along with photos.

vi) After announcement of result, in the presence of the candidates/their representatives, BU, CU are sealed in their carrying case and VVPAT slips are taken out from the VVPATs and sealed in black envelopes. The BU, CU and VVPAT slips and other election materials are kept in the Strong Room under the custody of the District Election Officer concerned till the timeframe for filing Election Petition gets over i.e. 45 days from the date of declaration of result. If any Election Petition is filed before the Hon’ble High Court concerned, the respective Units are kept till final disposal of the petition. VVPAT slips are kept as per Rule 94 of the Conduct of Elections Rules 1961.

 EVM warehouse/strong room is always opened and closed under prior intimation to and in the presence of the stake holders namely representatives of recognised political parties/candidates and under videography.

After the poll, the EVMs are stored in a strong room with a single access door and a two layered security cordon. Agents appointed by the candidates are allowed to keep watch over the EVMs round the clock till the counting. Locks to the strong rooms where the EVMs are stored are sealed with signatures of election officials as well as those of candidates or their representatives. The extant instructions of ECI make sure that all stake holders are involved in all the steps of EVM storage and movement. Thus, there is no implicit trust requirement and all stake holders jointly guard the polled EVMs. Some of the safeguards to maintain integrity are as under:

i). List of Serial numbers of EVMs used in the poll is shared with candidates/their agents along with the detail of number of votes polled in respective EVMs to verify the same at the time of counting of votes.

ii). After poll, EVMs are sealed in their carrying cases at the polling stations in the presence of polling agents and they are also allowed to put their signatures on the seals besides the polling officer.

 iii).The only power source (battery) available for the VVPAT to function is removed at the polling station in the presence of the polling agents after completion of the poll.

 iv).Live feed of CCTV covering entry of Strong Rooms of polled EVMs is given to representatives of candidates camping at counting centre.

  v). Two-tier security arrangements are made at the Strong Room having polled EVMs.

 vi).Further, on counting day the EVM Seals and Serial Nos: are also checked by the counting agents of candidates before start of counting.

As can be seen every aspect of polled EVMs is handled transparently with active participation of representatives of candidates and nothing is left to trust on the custody chain.

Yes, First Level Checking of EVMs is conducted in the presence of the representatives of the recognized political parties. For this purpose, a written invitation is given to the recognized political parties by the District Election Officer at district headquarters and copy endorsed to the state headquarters of the political parties.

After completion of FLC, FLC-rejected units are sent to BEL/ECIL for rectification. Upon rectification, the units are available for deployment in the filed for subsequent elections.

FLC rejected units are also analyzed by the manufacturers and Technical Expert Committee for future improvements to reduce field rejections.

VVPAT paper slips generated during FLC are disposed on daily basis/ regularly through paper shredding machine. The purpose of shredding VVPAT slips is to prevent from any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips to generate fake stories or misinformation. It is to be noted that VVPAT slips printed during the FLC have only dummy symbols.

Yes. After completion of FLC, the list of FLC accepted EVMs and VVPATs (containing unique ID of each unit) is provided to all the recognised political parties and also to candidates, when candidates are finalised.

No. Electrical repair is strictly prohibited in the field. Only mechanical repair like changing of button, flaps, latches etc. is allowed during FLC in which no electrical repair is involved. In FLC, needless to say that the representatives of the recognised political parties are invited to witness entire process.

After FLC, FLC-OK Units are stored in the Strong Room under double lock in the presence of the representatives of the recognised political parties. The Strong Room has 24x7 CCTV coverage and one section of armed security. The Strong Room is only opened in the presence of the representatives of the recognised political parties/candidates under videography, whenever prescribed to distribution.

During poll, as per defined Replacement protocol if a BU or CU of a particular polling station goes out of order, (the fault is displayed on CU display) then the full set of BU, CU, and VVPAT is replaced with a new set from the Reserve EVMs in the presence of the polling agents appointed by the candidates. The votes recorded until the stage when the EVM went out of order, remain safe in the memory of the Control Unit and the VVPAT ballot slips compartment. In case only the VVPAT goes out of order, the votes recorded in the CU remain safe in its memory and therefore the polling is resumed after replacing the non-functional VVPAT with another VVPATfrom the Reserve machines. On the counting day, votes recorded in all EVMs used in that polling station are counted to give the aggregate result of that polling station.  If the recorded votes in the Control Units cannot be ascertained due to any technical reason,VVPAT slips of the respective Control Units are counted to get the result.

The Control Unit can store the result in its memory until the data is deleted or cleared. Post every election, after the Election Petition period ECI ascertains the status of Election Petitions filed with the Hon’ble High Courts and releases the EVMs for further use if no Election Petitions have been filed. In cases where Election Petitions have been filed the related EVMs are retained securely, as per defined protocol, till the final disposal of the petition. In cases if the Hon’ble court orders a recount the control unit can be reactivated by fitting the battery to display the results stored in its memory. Moreover, VVPAT slips are also preserved till final disposal of Election petition.

There is no wastage of any vote in EVMs. The unused BU buttons are masked.  For example: if there are only 10 candidates including NOTA in a constituency, the unused ‘Candidate’ buttons provided at Sl. Nos: 11 to 16 will be physically ‘masked’ (covered) at the time of preparation of EVM by Returning Officer. Therefore, there is no possibility of any voter pressing any of the masked buttons at Sl Nos: 11 to 16.

Yes. On the Poll Day before the commencement of poll, the Presiding Officer demonstrates to the polling agents present that there are no “hidden” votes already recorded in the CU by pressing the result button on CU. The CU display shows zero vote against all candidates. Similarly, the P.O also opens the ballot compartment of VVPAT and shows to polling agents that it is empty. Thereafter, he/she conducts a Mock -Poll with at least 50 votes in the presence of the polling agents and tallies the electronic result stored in the CU with VVPAT slip count. After mock poll, the Presiding Officer presses the “Clear Button” to clear the result of the mock poll before commencing the actual poll. Then he again demonstrates to polling agents, by pressing 'Total' button that CU display shows '0' votes and that VVPAT  ballot compartment is empty. He then seals the Control Unit and VVPAT in the presence of polling agents before starting actual poll.

In addition to the 'Result' button, there is a ‘Total’ button on Control Unit of EVMs. By pressing this button any time during poll, the total number of votes polled up to the time of pressing the button will be displayed without indicating the candidate-wise result. At the end of poll, the ‘Close’ button is pressed after which the machine does not accept any more votes. By pressing the Total button at end of poll, the total number of votes polled in the CU after poll is obtained and recorded by the Presiding Officer in Form 17-C and Presiding Officer’s diary. Copy of Form 17-C is shared with the polling agents of the candidates.

Yes, a prototype of the device called 'Totaliser' that can accommodate up to 14 CUs at a time and aggregate votes without revealing the candidate-wise count of individual EVMs used at a particular polling station was considered. However, Totalisers are not in use at present as its technical aspects and other statutory/administrative related issues are under examination and matter is sub-judice.

Compulsory counting of printed paper slips of VVPAT is done only in the following cases:

i)In case of “no display” of result on the Control Unit the printed paper slips of respective VVPAT(s) are counted. These slips have been verified by voters at the time of casting their votes.

ii) As directed by the Honourable Supreme court of India, mandatory verification of printed VVPAT paper slips of five randomly selected polling stations of each Assembly Constituency or each Assembly Segment in case of election to the House of the People, before declaring result.

Before poll, details like serial number, symbol etc. are allocated to the candidates. During Commissioning of EVMs or Preparation of EVMs , serial numbers, names of candidates and symbols allotted to them are used to prepare the Ballot sheet on laptop / PC provided by DEO. This sheet is loaded in VVPAT  units using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU). The preparation of Ballot sheet and its loading in the VVPAT is done with the help of Manpower for preparation . (Authorised engineers of the manufacturer i.e., ECIL / BEL) in the presence of candidates / their agents. The SLU also facilitates the representatives of recognised political parties / candidates / their agents to simultaneously view symbols being loaded in the VVPAT on a big monitor or TV screen.

Symbols are loaded in Symbol Loading Unit (SLU), in presence of contesting candidates or their authorized representatives present, from a Windows Operating System based Symbol Loading Application (SLA) developed by the manufacturers i.e. BEL/ECIL.

The SLA is installed in the PC/Laptop provided by DEO/RO. In SLA a ‘VVPAT sheet’ or electronic ballot paper is created as graphic image (.bmp format) by entering Number of Candidates (including NOTA), name and symbol of the candidates. This graphic image (in graphic data .bmp format/an image or picture in digital format) is uploaded into the SLU from PC/Laptop through a USB cable.

The size of graphical data loaded onto the VVPAT through SLU is 4 KB with a graphical resolution of 192x168 pixels. This data has the Serial numbers, Names and Symbols of the contesting candidates including NOTA.

After finalization of list of contesting candidates and second randomization of EVMs (polling-station wise allocation of EVM plus reserve EVMs), entire process of commissioning of EVMs is done in the presence of candidates/their representatives. There are several ways to confirm that correct symbols are loaded in VVPAT:

(i) As part of the commissioning process, symbol loading is done through Symbol Loading Unit (SLU). The candidates/their representatives can view live loading of the Serial Number, Name and Symbol of the Candidates in the VVPATs on specially provided TV/Monitor. Please refer the Annexure for Block Diagram of the Symbol Loading process.

(ii) Further, a long VVPAT slip containing the Serial Number, Name and Symbol of all the Candidates including NOTA is printed in the sequence in which they are in ballot paper affixed on the Ballot Units. The test printout is signed and certified by RO/ARO.

(iii) During commissioning one vote to each contesting candidate including NOTA is cast in each EVM (BU+CU+VVPAT) and verified with VVPAT slip count.

(iv) In addition, 1000 votes are cast in randomly selected 5% of EVM (BU+CU+ VVPAT) and electronic result from CUs is tallied with VVPAT slip count. Candidates/their representatives are allowed to pick VVPATs and cast votes, if they so desire.

(v) On the poll day, mock poll is conducted in each polling stations. Polling agents present can again confirm use of correct symbols for their respective candidates.

VVPAT slips generated during commissioning of EVMs are destroyed daily /regularly through paper shredding machine. The purpose of shredding VVPAT slips is to prevent any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips to generate fake stories or misinformation. It is to be noted that VVPAT slips printed during the commissioning process have actual symbols of the candidates.

During the Preparation of VVPAT, the test printout of the Serial numbers, names and symbols of candidates loaded in VVPAT is mandated to be taken by the Returning officer /Assistant Returning officer at the time of preparation for cross checking with the ballot paper in Ballot Unit. Thereafter, one vote to each candidate including NOTA is cast to check that the VVPAT is printing the paper slips correctly in respect of all the candidates.

After completion of poll i.e. when the last voter has voted, the Officer in-charge of the Control Unit/Presiding Officer presses the ‘Close’ button. Thereafter, the EVM  does not accept any vote. The poll ‘start time’ and ‘end time’ are recorded in the machine as well as by the Presiding Officer. After the close of poll, the Control Unit is switched off and thereafter the Ballot Unit is disconnected from the Control Unit and kept separately in their respective carrying cases and sealed. Further, the Presiding officer has to hand over to each polling agent a copy of the account of total votes recorded in Form 17-C . At the time of counting of votes, the total votes recorded in a particular control unit is tallied with this account and if there is any discrepancy, this can be pointed out by the Counting Agents of candidates.

At time of poll, a voter casts his/her vote by pressing the candidate button of his/her choice and verifies from printed slip of VVPAT which has the details of candidate he/she has voted for. Counting of votes is conducted in absolute transparency in the presence of all the contesting candidates and counting agents authorised by the candidates. To ascertain the result from the Control Unit, no special knowledge is required. The Counting Officials just press the “RESULT” button of the Control Unit, and Candidate-wise result is automatically displayed on the display panel of the Control Unit. For this only the basic training required for the officials is imparted to them. A list giving Serial Nos. of BU, CU, and VVPAT deployed in all polling stations in the AC/AS is shared with the candidates after the second randomisation. All votes of CUs and VVPATs are counted in the presence of political parties and candidates present after verifying the intactness of seals and serial numbers of the EVMs with the list of EVMs deployed in the polling stations which was given in advance.  Subsequently, the matching ofVVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations with their CU counts is also done in the presence of all political parties and candidates to establish the correlation between the ‘vote cast and vote counted’ with a very high level of confidence. The voters can therefore ascertain that their vote has been ‘cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded’ without any expert knowledge. The tallying of a sample of five VVPATs per AC/AS with the CU count has been mandated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. In fact, for the parliamentary general elections this mandate boils down to tallying the ballot slip counts of 20,625 randomly chosen VVPATs with the electronic counts of their Control units. If no mismatch betweenEVMandVVPAT counts is found in such a sample, then it provides a very high statistical guarantee that the sanctity of the election process is not affected by the use of EVMs. Till date ballot slips of41, 629 randomly selected VVPATs have been tallied with the electronic counts of their Control Units and not a single case of transfer of vote meant for candidate ’A’ to candidate ‘B’ has been encountered. Differences in count if any have always been traceable to human errors like non-deletion of Mock-Poll votes from Control Unit or non-removal of Mock-Poll slips from VVPAT.

The EVM system is as simple as a basic calculator. No expert knowledge is required to operate or cast votes on EVM. All ECI-EVM related processes are easy to monitor and are conducted transparently in the presence of stakeholders. Ordinary Citizens are able to check the truthful recording of their votes through verification of printedVVPAT ballot slip by each voter, and the subsequent tallying of VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations of every AC/AS with the electronic count of the corresponding Control Units to establish a strong correlation between the vote cast and the vote counted as cast with an extremely high level of confidence.

In fact, for the parliamentary general elections the mandate of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India boils down to tallying the ballot slip counts of 20,625 randomly chosen VVPATs with the electronic counts of their Control units. If no mismatch betweenEVMandVVPAT counts is found in such a sample, then it can be said with near certainty that the sanctity of the election process is not disturbed by the use of EVMs. Till date ballot slips of41, 629 randomly selected VVPATs have been tallied with the electronic counts of their Control Units and not a single case of transfer of vote meant for candidate ’A’ to candidate ‘B’ has been detected. Differences in count if any have always been traceable to human errors like non-deletion of Mock-Poll votes from Control Unit or non-removal of Mock-Poll slips fromVVPAT, wherein it is possible to identify and remove the mock poll votes.

ECI-EVM has always been a truthful machine. A close look at the results of Legislative Assembly Elections and the Lok Sabha Elections ( Annexure-II and Annexure-III) shows how the party with maximum number of seats has changed over time and amply proves the integrity of the EVMs. With the introduction of VVPAT the ECI EVM system enables voters to immediately verify that their vote is cast as intended by observing the VVPAT ballot slip which contains the name, serial number and symbol of the candidate for whom vote is cast. The votes are counted as recorded in Control Unit. The correlation between the ballot slip printed by VVPAT and the vote recorded in the EVM is established statistically with a very high degree of confidence by tallying the electronic count of the Control Unit with the VVPAT slip count of five randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency /segment. 

The matter regarding mandatory verification of VVPAT slips count has already been settled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by its order dated 8^th April, 2019. In pursuance of that order ECI has been mandatorily verifying VVPAT slips of randomly selected 5 polling stations per assembly constituency/segment (in Parliamentary constituency elections).

It is highlighted that apart from the above, verification ofVVPAT slips is done at various stages of the election process in the presence of representatives of recognised political parties/candidates as follows:

i) During FLC – in 5% machines selected randomly (1200 votes in 1%, 1000 votes in 2% & 500 votes in 2%)

ii) During Commissioning – in 5% machines selected randomly (1000 votes)

iii) Mock-Poll before actual poll – in 100% machines (at least 50 votes)

The extant instructions of ECImake sure that all stake holders are involved in all the steps of EVMstorage, movement, checking FLC and preparation (Commissioning), distribution to polling parties, Mock-Poll on poll day and during polling itself. This is to ensure transparency and to build trust amongst the public at large.

Firstly, the counting of VVPAT slips is done as per well-established procedure as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and is not done in an ad-hoc manner. Further, the statute also provides an opportunity for the candidates to request for the VVPAT slip count under Rule 56D of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. The option of filing an Election Petition after declaration of result is also available for the contesting candidates wherein each and every VVPAT slip may be counted as per direction of the Hon’ble Court.

i. If powerpack of Control Unit of EVM gets drained out on voting day, the powerpack is replaced with Reserve power pack of the EVM by the Presiding Officer in presence of the polling agents and Sector Officer. Upon replacement, the powerpack Section of the Control Unit is re-sealed with address tag and signatures of the polling agents are also obtained on the tag.

ii. If power pack of VVPAT goes non-functional on voting day, the power pack is replaced with reserve power pack of VVPAT by the Presiding Officer in presence of the polling agents and sector officer.

However, the need to change power packs occurs rarely.

Yes, the awareness campaign of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted approximately 3 months prior to announcement of election. This is done by way of physical display and/or demonstration of the machines in public. For physical demonstration-cum-awareness on use of EVM and VVPAT, EVM Demonstration Centre(s) is set up at District Election Office and at the Returning Officer Headquarters/Revenue Sub-Division Offices. A Mobile Demonstration Van is deployed for every Assembly Constituency/Segment to cover all polling locations/ clusters at least once.

After announcement of election, no physical demonstration or awareness on use of EVMs and VVPATs is conducted just to avoid any fake narrative or misinformation. Thereafter, only digital outreach (various digital medium) is conducted.

Yes, candidates have the information. Before commissioning of EVMs, second randomization of EVMs (BU+CU+VVPAT) is done through EVM Management System (EMS) to allocate them polling station-wise. The unallocated EVMs are kept as reserve EVMs. The list of randomized EVMs including reserve EVMs is generated through EMS. The signatures of candidates/their representatives are obtained in the list. A copy of this list is provided to each candidate.

Yes, the purpose of such instruction is to prevent the printing of VVPAT slips with actual symbols of the candidates, and hence to prevent any kind of misuse of VVPAT slips so printed, in terms of generating fake stories or disinformation, spreading rumour, etc.

There was no such incidence as claimed. The statement is false and baseless as polled EVMs cannot be replaced with any other EVMs. Any such reporting is only in the nature of fake news/disinformation

Replacement of EVMs is not possible as:

• List of EVMs and VVPATs to be used in elections are shared with the National and State Recognized Political Parties/Candidates in advance at the time of FLC and Commissioning.
• During Commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, signatures of candidates/ their representatives are taken on the seals used in sealing EVMs and VVPATs at that time. The same can be verified during counting.
• On poll day also machines are sealed in presence of Polling Agents and signatures of Polling Agents appointed by the candidates are taken. The same can also be verified during counting.
• After completion of poll, polled EVMs and VVPATs are escorted back to Reception Centre. Moreover, candidates/ polling agents are allowed to follow the vehicles having polled machines.
• Polled machines are stored in the strong room in the presence of candidates/ their representatives under double lock system, 24x7 CCTV and 24X7 Armed Security.
• Candidates/ their representatives are allowed to station and watch the strong room till EVM/VVPAT are taken out for counting in their presence.
• Opening and closing of EVM warehouse/strong room is done in the presence of the recognized political parties/candidates/their representatives under videography.

Political Parties/Candidates are well aware about the above facts.

It is factually incorrect. There can be no question of pre-polled votes because:

• Prior to actual poll, mock poll is conducted at every polling station in the presence of candidates or polling agents appointed by them.
• In mock poll at least 50 votes are cast by the polling agents appointed by the candidates. Mock poll result of EVM is tallied with VVPAT slips count to ensure machines function correctly.
• After mock poll result is cleared from the EVM and VVPAT, mock poll slips are kept in black envelope and sealed. It is also shown to them that EVM has no vote and VVPAT has no slip.
• Thereafter, EVM and VVPAT are sealed in presence of them. Signatures of polling agents are obtained on seals that can be verified during counting.
• There were some instances in which mock poll result had not been deleted or mock VVPAT slips had not been removed, due to human error of polling staff. To deal all such cases there are comprehensive Instructions of the Commission in the public domain and in the training manual. In such cases, they are set aside i.e. counting of votes is not done from these machines, if the winning margin is more than the votes recorded in such machines, such cases are very rare in number.

Moreover, when RESULT BUTTON of the Control Unit is pressed to ascertain the result, the display panel of the Control Unit also displays Poll Start Time (PST) and Poll End Time (PET). Hence, any vote cast before scheduled poll time can be identified.

Yes. Each Ballot Unit, Control Unit andVVPAT has a unique Serial Number (ID), which is engraved on the cabinet or on metal plate riveted to the cabinet. While all EVM units are identical in operation and looks their allocation is subject to various process like randomisation, need to be transported and pre-tested (FLC) before polls. Hence for accounting purpose ID is needed for every Unit. For example, EVMs go through First Randomisation, first time to allocate them Assembly Constituency wise and Second Randomization, second time to allocate them Polling Station wise. The list containing unique ID number of EVM (Ballot Unit, Control Unit &VVPAT to be used in a particular assembly constituency and polling station is provided to the contesting candidates / their agents. The same can be tallied anytime during the polling / counting.

i) Unique ID of Control Unit also displayed on display panel of Control Unit.

ii) Unique ID of VVPAT is printed on each VVPAT slip.

No, the arrangement of names of candidates in the ballot paper of the Ballot Unit is in alphabetical order, first for the National & State Recognised Political Parties, followed by other State Registered Parties, and then by independent candidates. Thus, the sequence in which the candidates’ names appear on the Ballot paper of the BU is dependent on the names of the candidates and their party affiliation and keeps changing from one election to another. Therefore, the sequence cannot be ascertained much in advance. EVMs are allocated to polling station after two stages of randomisation process through EVM Management System, EMS software application developed by the Commission. After First Level Checking FLC of EVMs, First Randomization of EVMs is done at the District Election Officer level to allocate them Assembly Constituency-wise in the presence of the representative of recognised political parties. Thereafter, before Commissioning of EVMs , Second Randomisation of EVMs is done at the Returning Officer level to allocate them Polling Station-wise in the presence of candidates / their agents. Two levels of randomisations eliminate any scope of determining before-hand the polling station-wise deployment pattern of machines.

First Level Checking (FLC) of EVMs/VVPATs is a process in which the units are checked before using in elections. Only the FLC passed EVMs /VVPATs are used in election. FLC is conducted in the presence of the representatives of the National and State recognised political parties,

The process is called First Level Checking because well before the announcement of election by the Election Commission of India, the units to be used in elections are checked by the authorized engineers of the manufacturers to ensure only functional EVMs and VVPATs are available for using in upcoming elections. The FLC is carried out under the supervision of the District Election Officer.

During the life cycle, EVM/VVPAT travels long distances to various State/UTs with different environmental conditions like extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme ranges of humidity etc. With ultimate goal of minimum replacement rate (to avoid any inconvenience to voters) during actual poll, First Level Check is mandatory process prescribed by the Commission before actual deployment of units in the elections.

Manual on Electronic Voting Machine (Chapter 2) may be referred for further details on FLC.

Before every election all EVMs to be used in an election undergo a thorough physical and functional check to ensure poll worthiness. These checks are called FLC(First Level Check).

Manpower in FLC consists of only authorized engineers of the manufacturers, namely Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), who conduct the First Level Checking (FLC) of EVMs and VVPATs under control of District Election Officer and direct supervision of Dy. DEO in the presence of representative of recognised Political Parties.

The following processes are involved in First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs, which are conducted in the presence of the representatives of the recognized political parties:

1. Cleaning of Machines:

It includes dusting and removal of earlier address tags, ballot papers, cleaning of unwanted superscriptions from EVMs/VVPATs.

2. Visual Inspection:

Visual Inspection of BU, CU, VVPAT, connecting cable, connector, latches, carrying cases etc., is conducted to ensure there is no physical damage or breakage of plastic parts, latches, switches etc.

3. Internal inspection of BU/CU/VVPAT:

In order to provide assurance to the political parties, the authorised engineers ensure opening of Cabinets of BU and CU in the presence of the representatives of National and State Recognised Political parties during FLC and carry out visual inspection of PCB and check for spurious components, if any. Authorised engineers certify the same in prescribed format.

4. Functionality Checks using Pre-FLC Unit (P-FLCU):

The functionality and electrical checks of CU, BU and VVPAT are conducted using Pre-FLC Unit (P-FLCU).

5. Symbol Loading in VVPAT using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU):

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is moved to Symbol Loading stage. Symbol loading in VVPAT is done using Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) and having facilitation of simultaneous viewing of symbol loading on TV/Monitor (at least 24”) to the representatives of National and State Recognized political parties who are present during the FLC. It may be noted that only dummy symbols are loaded in the VVPATs for conduct of FLC and Mock polls.

6. Casting of 96 Votes:

P-FLCU passed CU, BU and VVPAT (after symbol loading) are connected and 96 votes are cast [i.e.6 votes to each candidate button of the BU (16x6=96)]. Electronic result of EVMs and paper count of VVPAT slips are verified. Thereafter, result is cleared from Control Unit. This process is conducted for all units available for FLC i.e. BU/CU/VVPAT.

7. FLC Sticker Labelling:

Once a unit passes the above stages, Green FLC OK sticker is pasted on Control Unit (CU)/ Ballot Unit (BU)/ Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). Red Sticker with reason is pasted on FLC rejected units. Signatures of BEL/ECIL Engineers and the representatives of DEO are made on both the stickers as applicable. Pink paper seals are pasted on CU and signed by FLC Engineer and FLC Supervisor. The representatives of the recognised political parties are also permitted to sign on the seals.

8. Conduct of Mock Poll:

Mock poll in 5% of randomly selected EVMs (i.e. 1200 votes in 1% EVMs, 1000 votes in 2% EVMs and 500 votes in 2% EVMs), using VVPATs, is conducted in the presence of representative of recognized National and State Political Parties. Counting of printed ballot slips of each VVPAT is verified/tallied with the electronic result of the respective CU. The results are shown to the representatives of the recognized National and State Political Parties and their signatures are taken in a prescribed register. It is to be noted that for the purpose of mock poll and also to do the mock poll the representatives of the recognised political parties are allowed to pick machines randomly themselves.

First Level Checking of EVMs and VVPATs for use in election is conducted before every election.

In case of general elections to State Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha, FLC is generally conducted at least 4 months and 6 months respectively before election. In case of byeelection, FLC is conducted generally within 1 month of occurrence of vacancy.

Every vote is verified by the voter and given the available provision in the statute ( Rule 49 MA ) for the voter to report any discrepancy between his choice of vote in the BU and VVPAT slip, such a modified system may be superfluous.

No, there is no prescribed cut-off or range for the same.

The Commission has only prescribed minimum availability of 120% BU, 120% CU and 130% of VVPAT after FLC compared to number of polling stations.

The design of ECI-EVM has indeed been periodically updated to take advantage of advancements in technology. For example, the current model (M3) of the ECI-EVMuses public key encryption and digital certificates for mutual authentication by units of the EVM.Thus, in EVMs, newer models have upgraded technology including security measures commensurate with emerging threats.

The salient features of ECI-EVMs are in public domain as in publications namely, Presentation on EVM, Manual on EVM, Status Paper on EVM and Legal History of EVM starting from broad overview go to minute details . Further there are Laws and Rules in above mentioned references that allow voter or candidate to make a complaint or take a legal recourse. ECI also holds open debates around EVM and election processes time to time.