Additional ballot units allocated to Chennai’s Parliamentary constituencies

7,374 extra units will be needed in addition to the 4,469 that have already been redistributed, says District Election Officer J. Radhakrishnan

As a large number of candidates are in the fray in the Parliamentary constituencies of Chennai, the District Election Office has allocated additional ballot units.

District Election Officer and Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan said 7,374 ballot units would be needed in addition to the 4,469 that had already been redistributed to centres in the district. “One ballot unit can be used for 16 candidates. Because of additional candidates, we need more units. We did the first supplementary randomisation of EVMs in the presence of political party representatives today, “ he said.

“On March 21, the randomisation of electronic voter machines (EVMs) and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) units was carried out in the Chintadripet warehouse before they were redistributed to various centres in the city. After 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the ballot units will be sent from the Chintadripet warehouse based on the randomised number to the distribution centre,“ he said.

Pointing to the distribution of booth slips, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the work on distribution of 3.25 lakh booth slips had been completed. “Yesterday, 3.25 lakh voters received their booth slips. The work will continue in all constituencies,“ he added.

Skipping training

More than 700 employees on election duty have not participated in the training programme. “A total of 19,412 employees are on election duty, including 4,472 presiding officers,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said. In a bid to improve surveillance, additional video surveillance teams have been sent to all constituencies.

Observers have strengthened surveillance, he added.