In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Election Commission (EC) will have a web camera along with a laptop on each and every table where electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be placed for counting on May 13. It will help agents of political parties to know the number of votes counted at the end of each and every round.
State chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar said that though it had been implemented in Tiruchendur byelections on a trial basis, for the first time it is being introduced in the general elections.
He said, “No one can complain as everything is recorded live and can be verified any time.”
The new system has been contemplated to ensure transparency, he said. “After the introduction of the scheme, the agents of the political parties will be able to get a clear picture about what was going on in the counting table, besides, nobody could raise any unnecessary doubts regarding the counting,” he added.
Normally, party cadres, who stand behind the barricade, complain that they could not see the numbers that are written on the board properly. “This time, we will place laptops in each and every table. After the completion of every round the counted votes will be displayed in the monitor of the laptop.”
Joint chief electoral officer Pooja Kulkarni said the results of every round that are counted in each and every table will be announced simultaneously this time, whereas in earlier elections, the results used to differ from table to table.