From April 9 to May 4: Strict security journey of Kerala’s voting machines

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Voting machines from all 140 constituencies in Kerala will be housed across 43 secure centres. These facilities are protected by a robust three-tier security system comprising central paramilitary forces, state police, and 24/7 web-based surveillance. The machines will remain in specially constructed strong rooms for the next 24 days. Notably, while storage is centralised, a dedicated centre will be established for each constituency on the counting day.

Sealing and Verification

• Once polling concludes, each Control Unit is electronically closed, and the final vote count is recorded in Form 17C. This total is verified by the polling agents of all candidates to ensure transparency before the machine is physically sealed.
• Officials and agents then record the unique serial numbers of the paper seals and affix their signatures. These sealed machines and their corresponding records are then transported under guard to the strong rooms.

Counting Process

• On the day of counting, the machines are unsealed only in the presence of the candidates' agents. The agents first verify that the paper seal numbers and their original signatures remain intact, ensuring no unauthorised access occurred during storage.
• When the "Result" button is activated, the Control Unit displays the total votes for each candidate. Rather than a full manual recount of every machine, the ECI follows a mandatory verification protocol: VVPAT paper slips from five randomly selected polling stations per constituency are counted by hand to cross-check and validate the electronic results.

Redundancy and Technical Failures

• If a voting machine malfunctions during the poll and is replaced, the votes on the original machine remain secure. Both the original and replacement units are sealed and brought to the counting centre.
• In the event that a Control Unit’s display fails during counting, the results for that specific polling station are determined by manually counting the physical VVPAT paper slips from its drop box. This ensures that every vote is accounted for, even in the case of a total electronic hardware failure.