Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sushil Chandra along with Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey inaugurated the Integrated Election Complex at Bakhtawarpur, Delhi for warehousing and management of EVMs & VVPATs of NCT of Delhi. The Integrated Election Complex has been built by the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi and Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited (DTTDC) is the executing agency for the project.
The first of its kind, integrated complex is a multi-functional state-of-the-art facility aimed at modernising the warehousing and management of EVMs and VVPATs. The IEC has sufficient storage capacity for EVMs & VVPATs to serve as the State Level Warehouse covering all 11 districts of NCT of Delhi.
The Complex has comprehensive facilities for conducting First Level Checking of EVMs & VVPATs as per ECI’s guidelines. The First Level Checking halls can also be used for large meetings and training sessions.
Chandra during his address stressed that EVMs are the pride of Indian elections. He said EVMs have been used in all elections since 2004 and so far over 350 crore+ voters have reposed their faith and cast their vote through EVMs in 4 General Elections and 37 Assembly Elections. Elaborating further, CEC Sh Chandra said that EVMs are an engineering marvel.
EVMs are non-tamperable and have provided accurate and timely results establishing their credibility since these were first put to use 4 decades back on pilot basis. He added that VVPAT audit trail introduced since 2019 General Elections, has further established the credibility of EVMs with no mismatch being found in the votes cast in EVM and counting of VVPAT slips.
He urged the District Election Officers from Delhi to familiarise themselves with all the features and protocols of EVM to ensure effective communication and outreach amongst the public. While interacting with the DEOs, CEC Shri Chandra also emphasised that they should make further concerted efforts and targeted interventions to increase the voter turnout.
Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said that transparency, impartiality and perception are crucial in the election management and thus following Standard Operating Procedures and checklist for systematic storage, maintenance and movement of EVMs are vital to avoid any glitches and ensure uniformity.
