The Election Commission has issued revised standard operating procedures for candidates to check EVMs around seven months after the Maharashtra polls.
A total of 104 applications for checking 755 EVMs have been filed from 95 constituencies in Maharashtra that voted in November.
On Wednesday, the EC also announced that voters would receive their Elector’s Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) within 15 days of enrolment or updating their information.
During the last Lok Sabha polls, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea to return to paper ballots or count paper trail slips. However, the court ordered the EC to allow the second and third runners-up to demand the verification of the EVM microcontrollers — a circuit that governs the machine.
The PSU manufacturers of EVMs demand ₹47,200, including taxes, to verify each machine. The amount is refundable if the chips are found to be tampered.
Two Congress candidates who lost the Haryana polls last year had moved the Supreme Court to direct the EC not to delete data on EVMs. The Association for Democratic Reforms had also moved the court challenging the EC’s SOPs and demanding a transparent check of EVMs.
During the pendency of the case, which the court last heard in May, it asked the EC not to delete data and to cut costs and simplify the SOPs so that a representative of the manufacturer could check and tell petitioners if the EVM was tampered with. The poll panel came out with the fresh SOPs on Tuesday.
The new SOPs specifically details the protocol for symbol loading units (SLUs) during the check. “The eligible candidates may also opt to upload the data loaded on the SLUs used for election in the mock poll. In this regard, it is highlighted that the VVPATs already have loaded data of actual candidates’ symbols. However, the applicant can opt for use of already loaded symbols of VVPAT or request to reload the symbols loaded on the SLU afresh in VVPAT for the mock poll,” it said.
The EC also reduced the cost of checking and verification — without a mock poll — to ₹23,600 plus 18 per cent GST.
