The Election Commission has issued a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the checking and verification (C&V) of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), including a burnt memory check and the option of a mock poll for the first two losing candidates, in line with Supreme Court orders dated May 9.

The new protocol will first be applied to over 100 C&V applications from the fiercely contested 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, mostly filed by INDIA bloc candidates.

The SOP, issued on June 17 and circulated to all Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), outlines the step-by-step process. Once the status of pending election petitions is confirmed and necessary High Court permissions are obtained, CEOs will share a summary with EVM manufacturers ECIL and BEL. The manufacturers must respond within two weeks with a district-wise C&V schedule, names of authorised engineers, and a designated district in-charge engineer who will sign off on the certificate of authenticity of the EVM’s burnt memory and microcontroller.

If any unit fails the C&V process, a detailed report from the engineer and district election officer must be submitted to the Election Commission and the faulty unit stored separately. The process must be completed within four weeks of CEOs sharing EP status with manufacturers.

The verification will be limited to 20 Ballot Units, 10 Control Units, and 10 VVPATs per request. Diagnostic checks will cost ₹23,600 per EVM set, rising to ₹47,200 if a mock poll is included. This is a reduction from ₹40,000 during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The entire process, including the mock poll, will be video recorded and preserved for up to three months. However, this record will not be treated as “election papers” under Sections 93 and 94 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.The mock poll will be conducted only on EVMs that pass EC’s self-diagnostic and mutual authentication tests. The machines will mirror the actual poll-day configuration, and a maximum of 1,400 votes may be cast by the applicant candidate. VVPAT slips from the mock poll will be counted and matched with results from the Control Unit by engineers from ECIL or BEL. Candidates may also choose to load their symbols on the VVPAT.Following the SC’s April 26 ruling, the two losing candidates in each constituency can seek burnt memory verification in up to 5% of EVMs within seven days of the counting day. The original 2024 EC protocol was challenged for its effectiveness, leading to the court’s May 9 order approving the enhanced procedure.