The Public Works Department (PWD) is in the process of constructing godowns at 31 district headquarters to store EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter-verified paper audit trail).
These facilities are being constructed in the Collectorate’s premises after the counting of votes in May to ensure adequate safeguards and safe storage of EVMs and VVPATs.
The State 120.87-crore project was taken up following an instruction from the Election Commission (ECI) of the Government of India and in coordination with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Tamil Nadu.
Various facilities
PWD sources said the buildings would have rooms for security personnel and Election Commission officials. Each building is designed based on the number of EVMs and VVPATs to be stored, with a plinth area ranging from 595 square meters to 1,910 square meters.
Some warehouses are designed to be two-story buildings with elevators. The hall is designed without windows to store ballet units, control units and VVPATs. But there will be adequate ventilation, sources said.
‘Dedicated warehouse’
He said, ‘We have so far handed over buildings to the District Election Officers in 12 districts. Districts including Theni, Vellore, Namakkal, Nagapattinam, Dharmapuri and Kanchipuram have now dedicated warehouses, an official said.
The Greater Chennai Corporation will build a warehouse in Chennai. Nearly 90% of the work has been completed in 17 districts including Nilgiri, Thiruvallur, Sivaganga, Erode, Salem and Coimbatore. These godowns will be handed over to the District Election Officers by the end of this month. Sources said that the projects in Kanniyakumari and Madurai districts would be completed in May and July respectively.
About 1.69 lakh ballot units, 93,400 each control unit and VVPATs were allotted and distributed according to the number of polling stations in each district. Sources in the Election Commission said that some godowns were already functioning and a first-level examination of EVMs had been carried out. In the remaining districts, sites for building construction were also being identified.
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