Explained | BMC polls 2026: What is Printing Auxiliary Display Unit and how it will be used in vote counting?

The State Election Commissioner has said that the facility would be used only in rare circumstances.

Counting for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections began at 10 am on Friday.

Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) said that Printing Auxiliary Display Unit (PADU) will be used if technical difficulties arise during the counting of votes.

Here is all you need to know about PADU:

PADU is a back-up device which is used during counting of votes if the main display of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) fails.

After connecting it to the control unit the recorded votes are printed on paper.

When will PADU be used?

The SEC has said that the facility to view PADU would be available only in rare circumstances.

The voting machines manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), belong to the Election Commission of India and are of the 'M3A' type.

As per SEC orders, votes must be counted by connecting the Control Unit (CU) to the Ballot Unit (BU), and PADU should be used only in rare and exceptional cases of technical failure.

Further, vote counting using PADU must be carried out in the presence of technicians from BEL, it said, adding that 140 PADU units have been made available.

As per its directions, the BMC carried out demonstrations of PADU for representatives of political parties, the SEC said.

Raj Thackeray questions use of PADU

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray questioned the poll body's move to use PADU in the polls without informing the stakeholders in advance.

"The SEC is helping the government win the polls that it has lost," the MNS leader claimed, asking why this new norm of allowing door-to-door campaigning till the last day was introduced, and why it was not allowed during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

"Why was this concession given? Why was the rule changed? Is the SEC there to do what the government wants?" asked Raj Thackeray.

The MNS chief targeted the SEC over its move to use PADU in polls. "What machine is this (PADU)? The SEC didn't even tell this to any political party, nor did it show (give a demo) it to them. Even people don't know about it," he said.

(With PTI inputs)