Kolkata, Sep 12 (IANS): A review of the existing electronic voting machine (EVMs) in West Bengal has identified malfunctioning batteries of the control units of such machines during a random two-day inspection by a team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to review the preparedness for 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state.

Each EVM machine has three parts, namely control unit, ballot unit and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT).

“The control unit remains in the procession of the presiding officer and the latter uses that control unit to activate the ballot unit for the voter to cast his or her vote by pressing the button. After the voting is completed by pressing the button the paper trail authenticating the voting comes out of the VVPAT section.

"Now after random checking of the ballots during the last couple of days, it was noticed that the batteries of control units for a number of machines are malfunctioning. Unless the batteries of control units are functioning properly the voting process in a particular machine cannot be initiated,” said a source aware of the development.

It is learnt that the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO), West Bengal has already given requisition for 20,000 new EVMs from Hyderabad and they are expected to arrive in Kolkata this month only.

Sources from the office of the CEO, West Bengal said that the ECI delegation was led by two senior deputy election commissioners, namely Dharmendra Sharma and Nitesh Vyas.

The delegation was on a two- day visit to Kolkata to review poll preparedness, and they gave clear instructions on taking all steps to make the voters’ list by ensuring the deletion of the names of dead voters and cancellation of the duplicate EPIC cards.

At the same time the staff of the CEO, West Bengal office has been instructed to take care that the new voters do not face difficulty in getting their names enrolled in the voters’ list.