EC launches first-level checking of EVMs in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: With elections just a few months away, the first-level checking of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines to be used in the April-May 2026 elections in Tamil Nadu began on Thursday.

About 1.58 lakh EVM units, 81,473 control units and 87,188 VVPATs will undergo various checks till January 24 in the presence of representatives from all recognised political parties. Service engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will assist officials in undertaking the first-level checking of the machines.

District Collectors, who are also District Election Officers (DEOs), opened the strong rooms where the EVMs are kept after the Lok Sabha elections in the presence of representatives of political parties.

“The machines will be cleaned first and then checked to see whether they are technically sound and error-free. The buttons on the ballot unit will also be checked thoroughly. It takes over an hour to check a machine, following which the engineers will decide whether it has passed FLC,” Villupuram Collector Sheikh Abdul Rahman said.

All details of the FLC will be uploaded on the EVM Management System website every day, Rahman said, adding that the strong rooms are protected by CCTV cameras, which can be viewed by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and officials from the ECI anytime.

The development comes after the ECI conducted a day-long workshop for DEOs on the FLC.

Meanwhile, the CEO, Tamil Nadu, said the number of polling booths in Tamil Nadu have been increased from 68,467 to 75,035 after rationalisation of the polling booths.

Officials said the ECI decided that a booth cannot have more than 1,200 voters and hence the number was increased.