EVM familiarization, mock poll conducted by Election dept for political parties

GANGTOK, March 28: State Election department today conducted a State level EVM familiarization programme and a mock poll for the recognized and registered political parties of the State here at Chintan Bhavan.

“The familiarization programme and mock poll are being conducted so that the political parties are comfortable wit the EVMs”, said Chief Electoral Officer TT Dorji at the outset of the programme.

The daylong programme was conducted to familiarize the candidates and members of the political parties on the preparation and use of EVMs during the elections.
Representatives from Sikkim Democratic Front, Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee, BJP, CPIM, Nationalist Congress Party and Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad attended the programme.

“After the EVM demonstration exercise is complete, we will also conduct an interactive session today in the second part. The political parties can clear doubts over nomination process and other aspects of the electoral processes”, said Mr. Dorji. He informed that all the EVMs in the State have been tested and certified.

“The second testing will be conducted after the final list of candidates is done and we will invite all the candidates or send their representatives to witness the testing. After this, the EVMs will be transferred to strong rooms with guards where the political parties can also send their representatives”, said Mr. Dorji.

After the initial briefing, joint CEO CP Dhakal gave an elaborate live demonstration on the preparations and use of EVMs during voting. He informed that the EVMs had been earlier used during the 2004 Assembly-Parliamentary elections and 2007 Panchayat elections.

Detailing the elaborate fool proof security measures of the EVMs where checking is conducted at several levels, Mr. Dhakal said that even the polling officers will have to certify the EVMs.

“Voting on April 30 will begin from 7 am and conclude at 4 am. The booth level agents of the political parties will have to be present at their respective booths before 7 am and only ten minutes will be given after this”, said Mr. Dhakal. The booth level agent must be a local of that particular polling booth area, he said.

The joint CEO also informed that passports, driver’s license and other identity cards can be allowed to use if the voter does not have an electoral voter identity card.
On the sidelines of the programme, Mr. Dhakal told Media that the State election department has completed 80 percent of its preparations for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Sikkim.
“As far as preparations for the forthcoming elections in Sikkim are concerned, we have completed 80 percent of works”, said Mr. Dhakal.

Sikkim goes to polls on April 3. Elections for the 32 Assembly seats and lone Lok Sabha seat in the State will be held simultaneously on this day.
The department also said that it is examining complaints regarding violation of code of conduct from various political parties.
We have received around 10 complaints and most of them have been reported to the Election Commission of India, said DK Pradhan, additional secretary of the department