Patna: The office of the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) on Wednesday entered election mode by holding a workshop with all district magistrates and deputy electoral officers in Patna on various issues related to electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, their operation, security and testing.

Later in the day, a separate session was held for representatives of 11 recognised political parties on issues like free and fair elections, electoral awareness, presentation on EVMs and VVPAT machines and use of software applications like Suvidha, Sugam and Samadhan to address various electoral issues.

"We are ready to hold Lok Sabha elections. We have already received EVMs for all our polling stations, numbering over 72,000. We have also received over 86,000 VVPAT machines and a few more are to come," Bihar CEO H.R. Srinivasa said on the sidelines of the workshop.

He also pointed out that at present the first level test of EVM and VVPAT machines were being conducted in 13 districts. Asked whether the use of VVPAT machines at all polling stations in the 2019 general elections was made mandatory in the light of doubts being raised on the infallibility of EVMs by Opposition parties, Srinivasa said: "Through VVPAT machines a voter can see for seven seconds where his vote has gone. The slip inside the machine will show the symbol and name of the candidate he voted for."

He added that VVPATs and EVMs will be compared and verified in random polling stations to check whether voting has been fine. Once all EVMs are checked by Bharat Electronics Limited they will be sealed by tamperproof stickers printed at government press in Nasik. They will be stored in sealed strong rooms, video recorded and protected by security personnel.

Since data of Bihar voters are stored at United National Photo Electoral Roll Unified Database with the Election Commission, which contains data of 87 crore voters, all district magistrates were made aware about measures needed to avoid tinkering and hacking.

The Bihar CEO also said that if any EVM or VVPAT machine is found to be faulty during the voting process, it will be changed within two hours. Still all the voters who are in the queue at the closing time of polling, would be allowed to vote even if that means that the booth has to function till late in the night.