In compliance with the Supreme Court’s order, the Election Commission of India revised the protocol for “handling and storage of Symbol Loading Unit (SLU)” of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on Wednesday.
The SLUs will have to be sealed and kept in storage for 45 days after the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results, the poll body said. Before this revision, only three components of the EVM, the ballot unit, the control unit and the VVPAT, were being stored for 45 days after the results.
The SLU is meant to upload the name and symbol of the candidates contesting from a particular constituency on VVPAT or paper trail machines. The matchbox-sized device is first connected to a computer and then to the VVPAT.
The apex court, on April 26, dismissed the pleas seeking ballot paper voting and rejected pleas seeking cross-verification of the votes cast in the EVMS with VVPAT.
Following this, the top court issued two directives to the poll-governing body. It said that on completion of the symbol loading process in the VVPAT undertaken on or after 01.05.2024, the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) should be sealed and secured in containers, Live Law reported.
The SC further said that the candidates or their representatives shall sign the seal. The sealed containers containing the SLUs shall be kept in the strong rooms along with the EVMs at least for a period of 45 days post the declaration of results. They should be opened and examined and dealt with as in the case of EVMs.
Earlier, the SLU was to be in the custody of the returning officer and kept in the Commissioning premises with proper security. After the commissioning process, “BEL/ECIL Supervisor shall hand over all the SLUs to the District Election Officer concerned. DEO will keep the SLUs received from then in their safe custody and return the same to them or engineers authorised by the BEL/ECIL on the next day after poll, i.e., P+1 Day.”
As per the revised protocols, “Only the Reserve SLUs and their accessories shall be handed over to the authorised BEL/ECIL engineers in the presence of candidates/their representatives and their signatures shall be obtained in the Register. Proceeding of the same shall be made and placed in the SLU Inventory Register.”
“The used SLUs will continue to be stored in the SLU Storage Room until the completing of counting of results,” the ECI said.
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