Budgam, Oct 29: In line with the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the District Election Office Budgam today conducted an extensive Mock Drill on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for Presiding Officers (POs) as part of their ongoing training sessions ahead of the by-elections to 27–Assembly Constituency Budgam.
The hands-on exercise was aimed at ensuring complete familiarity of Presiding Officers with the functioning, handling, and troubleshooting of EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units before the poll day.
During the session, each Presiding Officer conducted an individual mock poll exercise by casting 100 votes and matching the VVPAT slips to verify accuracy and transparency of the voting process.
Certificates in the prescribed format were collected from all participating Presiding Officers upon successful completion of the mock drill.
Furthermore, testimonials of at least 50 Presiding Officers will be compiled and uploaded on the official website of the District Election Officer, Budgam, reflecting the district’s commitment to conducting free, fair, and transparent elections in line with ECI’s mandate.
The mock drill was conducted under the supervision of Assistant Trainings Nodal Officer, Zahoor Ahmad, along with the team of Master Trainers and officials from the District Election Office Budgam.
It was informed that the EVMs used during the exercise were those already earmarked for training purposes and were green-tagged, signifying that they are exclusively meant for training and demonstration and not for actual polling.
The initiative underscores the District Election office’s focus on ensuring that every polling official is well-trained, confident, and technically adept in managing EVMs and VVPATs for a seamless and transparent electoral process in Budgam.
