Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) were kept in the strong room at the Collectorate and sealed in the presence of the District Election Officer and Collector Raja Gopal Sunkara in Erode Tamil Nadu on Friday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The process of fixing ballot sheets—containing the names, photos, and symbols of candidates—onto the ballot units for the byelection to the Erode (East) Assembly constituency has been completed.
The byelection is scheduled for February 5, with 46 candidates in the fray. Fixing the ballot sheets began on Wednesday and was completed on Friday. The None of the Above (NOTA) option is printed as the 47th choice on the ballot paper and appears on the third ballot unit.
A total of 850 ballot units (including a 20% reserve), 284 control units (20% reserve), and 308 voter-verifiable paper audit trails – VVPATs (30% reserve) will be used across 237 polling stations. During the process, Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) uploaded the names and details of the candidates onto the ballot units and into the VVPATs. Once the process was completed, the machines were placed in the strong room at the Corporation’s Central Office and sealed. The strong room is under armed police guard, and the machines will be dispatched to polling stations on February 4.
Similarly, SLUs were stored in the strong room on the first floor of the Collectorate and sealed in the presence of District Election Officer and Collector Raja Gopal Sunkara, election officials, candidates, candidates’ agents, and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) engineers on Friday. Election officials stated that, in accordance with new protocols mandated by the Supreme Court, all SLUs will be stored in a strong room for at least 45 days after the declaration of results.
Polling will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. After voting concludes, all machines will be transported to the counting centre at the Government College of Engineering in Chithode and stored in strong rooms. The counting of votes will take place on February 8.
Published – January 31, 2025 05:43 pm IST