TIRUPUR: Electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units used for the Dharapuram assembly byelection in Tirupur district have been placed in a strong room under two-tier armed security and round-the-clock CCTV surveillance, officials said.After the completion of polling on Oct 6, the EVMs and VVPAT units were brought to the counting centre located at LRG Govt Women’s Arts College in the district.District election officer and collector Dr Manish Narnaware and election general observer Chinmay Pundlikrao Gotmare, IAS, on Wednesday supervised the placement of machines into the strong room in the presence of candidates and their agents. The strong room was sealed thereafter, with the participation of superintendent of police Srishti Singh, IPS, deputy commissioner of police Akash Joshi, IPS, and Dharapuram revenue divisional officer A Felix Raja.Narnaware said the strong room would be opened on Oct 9 — the counting day — in the presence of candidates or their representatives and the central observer, under videography.District election authorities said the strong room was being protected with armed security personnel in a two-tier arrangement, with continuous monitoring through CCTV cameras.To ensure uninterrupted supervision of CCTV feeds, three officers of deputy collector rank have been deployed daily at the district level, while separate monitoring officers have been appointed for the assembly constituency. The monitoring will continue until the counting day on Oct 9.Authorities said all contesting candidates have been informed in writing about appointing representatives to observe the security arrangements, with permission granted for such representatives to stay outside the inner security cordon.Polling was held at 320 booths in the constituency. There are 2,23,306 registered voters, and 1,79,214 votes were cast, recording a turnout of 80.25%.
