PUNE: The state election commission is gearing up for the upcoming elections to local government bodies and, against that backdrop, electronic voting machines (EVMs) are undergoing first-level checks at the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in Hyderabad and the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in Pune.According to officials involved in the process, these checks involve just testing and calibration, and not sealing of the machines. State election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare told TOI on Saturday that Maharashtra currently has 65,000 EVMs, which he said were insufficient to cover 29 municipal corporations, 290 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, 32 zilla parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis. To bridge the shortfall, he said they have sought additional machines from Madhya Pradesh state election authorities and the chief electoral office of the state.“Madhya Pradesh provided about 25,000 control units (CUs) and 75,000 ballot units (BUs), half of which were already sent to ECIL for first-level checks,” Waghmare said.The state’s chief electoral office also assured that it would provide 20,000 CUs and BUs, which will be checked at BEL’s Pune facility.To ensure no shortage, the SEC placed an additional order for 50,000 CUs and 1 lakh BUs. Once all consignments are cleared, Maharashtra will have around 1.5 lakh CUs and 2 lakh BUs ready for the polls.
