Kolkata: As part of preparations for the 2026 Bengal Assembly elections, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday held a high-level workshop on the first-level checking (FLC) of electronic voting machines (EVMs), attended by 24 district magistrates and senior officials of the Chief Electoral Officer’s office.
The day-long session was addressed by Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal and senior EC officials, including Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharati.
“This was a workshop to brief DMs on the detailed procedures for the FLC of EVMs ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. More such tests will follow,” a senior EC official said.
“The discussions covered the physical testing of the ballot unit (BU), control unit (CU), and VVPAT machines,” he said.
Issues like functional checks, mock polls, management of faulty machines and storage protocols in strong rooms were also elaborated in detail. The DEOs were specifically instructed to monitor the involvement of representatives of various political parties in the process during the checking to ensure transparency and prevent tampering allegations.
They were asked to brief different political parties about the EVMs and related issues in their respective districts days ahead of the polls.
The EC delegation has been in the state this week to review the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls before returning to Kolkata for the workshop.