EVMs made by BEL to be used in Mizoram LS polls: CEO

Election to the Mizoram's lone Lok Sabha seat, to be held on April nine, would be conducted with electronic voting machine (EVM) made by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) replacing all the EVMs made by Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), state chief electoral officer (CEO) Ashwani Kumar said here today.

Kumar said that the EVMs used in the last election to the 40-member state legislature on November 25 last were kept in the strong rooms due to the pending case on election petition in the Gauhati High Court.

The CEO said that 23 opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) candidates filed election petition in the High Court asking the court to appoint an expert committee to verify the EVMs alleging that they might be tampered with.

"We brought 1,716 BEL-made EVMs from Maharashtra to be used in 1,126 polling stations and majority of them have arrived," he said, adding that they earlier intended to get the EVMs from Uttar Pradesh, but again changed the decision as the EVMs used in the UP were ECIL-made.

He added that electorate would exercise franchise in the coming election to the lone Lok Sabha seat and also in the by-election to the Hrangturzo assembly seat vacated by state chief minister Lal Thanhawla to be held on the same day.