Preparatory works ahead of the forthcoming local body elections have started in Ernakulam district as the first round of scrutiny of electronic voting machines (EVMs) began on Friday (July 25, 2025).
District Collector N.S.K. Umesh monitored the scrutiny process held at Usha Tourist Home here. The representatives of recognised political parties can watch the one-month-long work. Officials will verify the functioning of the control and ballot units as part of the directive issued by the State Election Commission to ensure the conduct of the local body elections in a proper and transparent manner.
The scrutiny is being done by the Department of Revenue in association with the Department of Local Self Government. Around 11,760 ballot units and 4,700 control units will be checked as part of the process. The units were stored in safe and secure store rooms. A dummy voting process will be held to ensure that the ballot and control units are working without any hiccups. After the completion of the scrutiny, the electronic voting machines will be sealed and kept back in the store rooms.
The State Election Commission has ordered that the first phase of scrutiny of the voting machines has to be completed before August 25. Around 120 officials from the Revenue and Local Self-Government departments are involved in the work.
Nearly 60 officials will be involved in the scrutiny at a time. The services of the officials of Electronic Corporation of India, which manufactured the electronic voting machines, will be available at the scrutiny hall to rectify technical snags.
Published – July 25, 2025 08:54 pm IST
