Chennai district election workers inspect EVMs and VVPATs at a warehouse in Chintadripet on Thursday. | Photo credit: R. RAGU
The first level of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was launched in all districts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday for the upcoming 2026 general assembly elections, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Archana Patnaik said.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has deployed 13 EVM Nodal Officers from various states to check the readiness of first level inspection, quality control and storage of EVMs and VVPATs in all districts of the state.
The first stage control process was also monitored at the level of the District Election Officer, the Director General and the Commission. Political parties recognized at the national and state levels have been asked to depute their representatives at the district headquarters to witness the first stage inspection process. Before every election, EVMs and VVPATs to be used in polls are inspected and only those that pass the process are used for voting.
The Director General on Wednesday, December 10, held a meeting with the nodal officers of various law enforcement agencies to identify expenditure sensitive constituencies for the upcoming general elections to the State Legislature. Authorities from various central and state government agencies participated.
During the meeting, she explained the empirical criteria for identification of Expenditure Sensitivity Components (ESCs) as per ECI guidelines and asked nodal officers to provide their inputs for identification of ESCs in Tamil Nadu, an official release said.
Chennai District Election Officer and Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner J. Kumaraguruburaran conducted the inspection with officials and representatives of recognized political parties.
Published – 11 Dec 2025 23:33 IST
