Agra: All reserve electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail ( VVPATs ) machines will be placed under surveillance of Global Positioning System (GPS). On polling day, as soon as the reserve EVMs are shifted from a strongroom to the vehicles of sector magistrates, they will come under GPS tracking. This will enable officials to check location of the magistrates and voting machines in real time.In case, an EVM at any polling booth stops working then as per GPS status, the nearest available reserve EVMs will be sent as replacement. The district administration has asked the regional transport department to make arrangements for 400 vehicles equipped with GPS system.Deputy district election officer Ramesh Chandra said, “The Election Commission has directed that end-to-end movement of all reserve EVMs and VVPATs have to be carefully monitored all the time. For this, the vehicles of sector magistrates carrying EVMs and VVPATs will be fitted with GPS tracking system. The regional transport authorities have been tasked to ensure time-bound arrangements in this regard.“Besides ensuring swift replacement of any non-functional EVM or VVPAT machine, the GPS monitoring system will bring in more transparency in the election process. In case of any allegation of malpractice concerning the machines surfaces, the GPS data will be available for checking,” Chandra added.Assistant district election officer Bharat Sigh said, “For real-time tracking of reserve EVMs and VVPATs, a district-level control room will be opened after nomination process. For this, GPS monitors and other related IT infrastructure and applications are being arranged.”

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