Thread by @Praveen2014IAS

EVM -
It only does one thing. It shows the number of times each button is pressed.

This is shown to political parties and candidates on a number of occasions during the election process.

FLC (First Level Checking) - all recognised political parties are invited when FLC is done by engineers of the manufacturer (either BEL or ECIL). Webcasting/Videography of entire process is must.

FLC- it’s basically a test of full functionality of EVMs. All past stickers are removed, machines are cleaned, all buttons are checked. It is checked whether every button results in a vote cast against that button. Remember, political parties are asked to remain present.

Infact in prescribed number of machines, mock poll is done. Kindly check the instruction. Again note that Representatives of political parties are asked to choose machines randomly for Mock Poll.
After FLC, two types of machines are separated, i.e. FLC-OK and FLC-Reject.

CUs(Control Units) are sealed by Pink Paper Seal signed by BEL/ECIL and political parties. Parties are provided with the serial nos. of Pink Paper Seals with the Serial nos. of machines on which they are used. FLC-reject machines are sent back to Election Commission.

Political parties at this time know that-
1. Serial no. of pink paper seal used in which serial number Control Unit(of EVM)
2. Votes are recording as per the buttons pressed.
3. Serial nos. of Functional EVMs (CUs and BUs) which will be used in the election process.

First Randomization. FLC-Ok machines are assigned to different Assembly Constituencies in presence of the Political parties. Now parties know that which machine will go in which assembly constituency and which machines will be used for training and demonstration purpose.

Now that machines are assigned to different Assembly Constituencies(ACs), Returning Officer/Assistant Returning officer will take charge of machines allotted to their AC. Machines will move from Warehouse (where FLC-Ok machines were kept) to the strongroom of RO/ARO.

Again representatives of political parties can follow the machines enroute and are asked to observe the process of storing machines in strong room. It is sealed with Double Lock system and representatives are also asked to put their seal also. Locks are to be covered by CCTV 24*7

It is to be visited on a daily basis by SP/DM/RO/ARO or anyone authorised by them. Visit is restricted to the point of CCTV only. The entry point of Strong room is to be covered by CCTV round the clock.
Political parties have the list of all the machines assigned to different ACs

Second Randomization- Now, all the machines of ACs are assigned Polling Booths randomly. This is also done in presence of political parties. At this point of time, political parties know which BU/CU/VVPAT will go to which polling booth.

Meanwhile, list of final contesting candidates is finalised by RO. Now EVMs are prepared according to the number of contesting candidates. Very simple, if 5 candidates are there, so all buttons after 6(NOTA) will be locked so that those buttons can’t be pressed.

During EVM preparation, contesting candidates are asked to remain present throughout. Again engineers from BEL/ECIL come for this exercise. Candidate Set button is to be sealed so that number of candidates are fixed as per the list of contesting candidates.

Sealing Address tag is another most important activity in EVM preparation. After Second randomization, we know which machine will go to which polling booth. Thus, preparation also included sealing address tags on EVMs.

Mock poll during Preparation is a huge task as mock poll of 1000 votes is done on 5% randomly selected machines. It is also tallied with the VVPATs. Representative of the candidates are also allowed to do the mock poll.

Now during preparation, BUs(Ballot Units) are sealed with Pink Paper seals uniquely numbered (as always) so that candidate set button cannot be opened again. Again political parties can affix their seals/signatures on these Pink paper seals as well as Address tags.

So,now what do Political parties know?
Votes cast in BUs are tallying with VVPAT slips. In 5% of the machines, as much as 1000 votes tallied with the slips of VVPAT.
Which CU/BU/VVPAT goes to which booth with which pink paper seal on CU and which pink paper seal on BU. They know.

Now everything is ready. Polling parties are despatched on the day before Polling to their respective booths.
One hour prior to the actual poll, mock poll is supposed to be done I. Presence of Polling agents of the candidates in every booth.

Polling agents can be appointed by all the candidates, who can supervise the election in that booth. During mock poll on polling day, all pink paper seals are shown INTACT to the agents. They can tally the serial numbers of BU/CU/VVPAT/all Pink Paper Seals.

50 votes are cast during Mock poll on poll day. Agents can tally the results as per mock poll and then sign the mock poll certificate. During mock poll, any issue with EVMs, there is a proper guideline of replacement. But I can only add 5 more tweets. 😊 next is very important.

After mock poll, those votes are to be cleared from CU as well as slips are supposed to be taken out of VVPAT. After Clearing the votes of mock poll, green paper seal is fixed in such a way that “Result” and “Clear” buttons can’t be pressed. It has to be signed by PrO/PO/Agents.

After the poll is conducted, Close button is pressed. A copy of 17C is given to the agents of candidates present so they know the number of total polled votes. On counting day, all these seals are shown to counting agents first.

On counting day, firstly all the seals on control unit CU are shown to the Counting agents. CUs serial number (which is there with Candidates as well boothwise) is also shown and infact CU itself shows the number. Green paper seal is broken so that Result Button can be pressed.

Now CU will show Total Votes and then candidatewise polled votes. Remember total votes are already there with the agents boothwise. If someone contests, RO/ARO can get it verified with 17C which was filled by PrO on polling day which is signed by Polling agents as well.

Now someone can say “maybe total votes are kept same and candidate’s count is fudged”. Reply - mock poll during FLC, mock poll during Preparation and mock poll on polling day- votes are tallied during these mock polls! And then, randomly selecting 5 VVPATs per AC for counting.

Counting of 5 VVPAT per AC, why not 100%?
When it’s about Random Selection, I believe RO will be asking candidates to select 5 booths per AC. Randomisation is RANDOMISATION. No one knows which booth will be selected. So 1 per AC, 5 per AC or 100%, it shouldn’t matter.

Apart from these 5 per AC, if any discrepancy between 17C and Total Polled Votes in CU arises, ECI’s instruction is that RO will use his/her judgment and count VVPAT voters’ slips. VVPAT Voter slips were seen by the voters, so there’s no doubt VVPAT counting should tally with CU

There can be one issue- if PrO fails to take the slips out of VVPAT after Mock Poll (highly unlikely) because VVPAT compartment is also sealed after Mock Poll. In such case, mostly there will be a repoll if ECI decides so on the basis of RO’s reports.

Scenario 1. If Mock poll slips from VVPAT are not taken out and mock poll results are also not cleared from CU - it’s definitely a huge mistake on part of the PrO. Now there is no way to decide which candidate gets how many number of votes.

Scenario 2. Mock poll votes are not cleared from CU, mock poll slips are taken out from VVPAT. In such a case, CU and 17C will differ on total votes - CU will show 50 more polled votes but VVPAT SLIPS are as per the votes cast by the voters excluding MOCK Poll. So VVPAT prevails.

Scenario 3. Mock poll votes are cleared from CU, mock poll slips are not taken out of VVPAT. No need of VVPAT counting as CU will tally with 17C duly signed by polling agents and PrO.
Though PrO will have to face some penal action.

Basically EVM is a stand-alone hardwired Calculator which only calculates the number of times buttons in BU are pressed. Importantly, it is shown to the political parties number of times that this calculator is calculating correctly. Follow my tweets above to understand it.