Itanagar, April 7 (Reporter) The process of commissioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) for the upcoming simultaneous elections to the 18th Lok Sabha and the 11th State Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh commenced in all districts on Saturday amidst tight security. The exercise will continue for next two days, during which the EVMs and VVPATs will be fully ready for the April 19 polls, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain said on Sunday. A total of 180 engineers from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited, a PSU under the Department of Atomic Energy, have arrived in the state, and they have been allocated across 25 districts of the state for the commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, the CEO informed. He said that the observers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) are overseeing the commissioning of EVMs. The enforcement agencies have placed requisite measures like frisking, metal detectors, and gadget-free commissioning halls, and the commissioning is taking place under tight security, wherein the machines will be fully ready for the April 19 poll. Returning Officers of Assembly Constituencies and Assistant Returning Officers of Parliamentary Segments are overseeing the whole process of commissioning the EVMs. “Through EVM commissioning, the names of the contesting candidates who are in fray are attached with the ballot units. In the VVPAT machines, symbols are uploaded, and candidates’ settings are done in the control unit (CU). EVMs and VVPATs are thoroughly checked and tested by the deputed ECIL engineers under the surveillance of 24x7 CCTV cameras. The contesting candidates, their election agents, or authorised representatives have also been invited to witness the entire process. The CEO informed that this time the M3 model of EVMs will be used for polling. Meanwhile, an election official said that in view of the simultaneous elections, the electorates shall be casting votes for the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, and hence, two EVMs will be deployed at each polling station. Reserve EVMs and VVPATs shall be deployed with the P-3 and P-2 polling teams, who shall be accompanied by porters, he added...////...