Warehouse on Wadala salt pan to stock EVMs

Size of godown and cost of construction yet to be determined, says deputy district election officer

- Yogesh Naik

MUMBAI: The state government is planning to construct a warehouse on a plot, classified as salt pan land a few decades ago but has since been lying vacant, in Wadala, to stock electronic voting machines (EVMs) issued to Mumbai city collectorate. The machines are traditionally stored in select sections of offices of the Mumbai Port Authority, Railways, and schools, among other places.

The state chief electoral officer (CEO) S Chockalingam said, "While earlier, EVMs were even stored in godowns stocking food grains, now we have decided to construct special places to store them. We have constructed similar godowns in 21 districts."

The Mumbai city district, stretching from Colaba to Mahim, has 2537 polling stations, with 6869 ballot units, 4798 control units and 4982 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, said Mumbai city deputy district election officer Shyam Surwase. The warehouse in Wadala will house the machines put to use in this stretch of south Mumbai. Surwase told HT, the size of the godown and cost to construct it are yet to be determined.