Bengal Election Prep Begins Amid SIR Row: New EVM Rules and 15K More Booths

Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti led a meeting in Kolkata with multiple First Level Checking (FLC) team members where they discussed the ongoing SIR, preparations of ensuring stock of EVM and VVPAT also is present among other things. According to ECI officials, the state EC has all the stock of the machines.

The ECI has also introduced new rules for allowing what kind of display information would be available on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with the image of each candidate every constituency also being included this time. This is the first time an image of a candidate will be included on the machines.

According to EC officials, "the image will be placed next to the EVM button and will also be shown in the training."

According to the ECI, 2026 assembly elections will see an increase of nearly 15,000 polling booths across the state. In the 2021 elections, the state had 80,681 booths; in 2026 the number will increase to around 95,000. To ensure that the West Bengal Election Commission has enough machines for each booth, the state's Chief Election Commissioner's office currently has 1.30 lakh EVMs (including ballots + control units, reserves) and 1.35 lakh VVPATs machines.

Later today, the ECI members will hold an EVM exercise to ensure that the machines are working properly.

According to the officials, there will a be a total of 6 voting buttons in the EVM and each button will be tested by voting 16 times, a total of 96 times. The officials will receive training from the Engineers of the EVM manufacturing company, ECIL, Bengaluru at the Banquet adjacent to Eco Park, Newtown in Kolkata.

The exercise is meant to ensure and check whether all the buttons are working properly; whether the ballot unit-control unit is responding properly; whether VVPAT paper and image are coming out correctly.

EVM officers, warehouse officers, and the District Magistrate (DM)/District Election Officer (DEO) will be present in each district and will provide training of the process in their respective districts.

Notably, the SIR process has been vehemently opposed by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state. The party has called for halting the SIR process, alleging that it could be detrimental to the voting rights of citizens if any eligible elector is left out of the rolls. The Bharatiya Janata Party in turn has accused the TMC of attacking election officers, alleging that it is the TMC who is actually trying to unduly influence the upcoming elections.

- ANI