Officer or Polling Officer in some earlier election, where EVM with VVPAT was used, you

must attend all the training classes/rehearsals, as during the training classes/rehearsals you
may come to know about VVPAT and some new facts/instructions/provisions of law. The
election law and procedures are amended from time to time, and it is necessary that you keep
yourself abreast about the latest provisions of law, rules, instructions etc. Further, it is always
necessary to refresh your memory even if there is no change in the law and procedures. By the
end of the training classes, you should be thorough in the operation of the EVM with VVPAT,
fixing of green paper seal, special tag, all sealing procedure and about the various statutory and
non-statutory forms used at Polling Station.

(I) You and your Polling Officers may be electors in the same constituency in which you are
posted on duty or in some other constituency. The District Election Officer/Returning Officer
will issue the order appointing you as Presiding Officer in duplicate and along with this order,
the District Election Officer/Returning Officer will give you sufficient number of Form 12 and
12A to enable you and the Polling Officers to apply for Postal Ballot Papers and Election Duty
Certificates. If any one of you is an elector in the same constituency in which you are appointed
for election duty, you can apply for an Election Duty Certificate in Form 12A to the Returning
Officer, in case of Parliamentary Elections. For an official, who is an elector from a
constituency other than the one where one is posted on election duty, he will have to apply for a
postal ballot paper in Form 12. Arrangements in this regard will be made in the training
sessions. It may be noted that once a postal ballot is issued to you, you can vote only through
postal ballot, even if you are not actually deployed for election duty for any reason.
(ii) During training classes, a copy of each of the electoral rolls for all the Assembly
Constituencies in the district will be made available by the District Election Officer for
inspection at the centre(s), so that you can note down your particulars regarding electoral roll
numbers, which you will have to furnish in your application for Postal Ballot Paper. You can
also get your voter details from National Voter’s Service Portal (NVSP) or through Voter
Helpline App (VHA).

On the previous day of poll or on the day of departure for the Polling Station, you will be supplied with
all the election material, a list of which is set out in Annexure - 3. Before leaving for your Polling
Station, make sure that you have received all the items.

(I) Check that the Control Unit (CU), the Ballot Unit (BU) and VVPAT are the ones which are
meant for use at your Polling Station. This shall be verified with reference to the address
tags attached to the said units as the number and name of the Polling Station shall be
indicated by the Returning Officer on each of those address tags.
(ii) Check that the ‘Candidate Set Section’ of Control Unit is duly sealed and the address tag is
firmly attached thereto. Also check that the Pink Paper Seal on the control unit is intact.
(iii) Check that the battery installed in the Control Unit (CU) is fully operational. This may be
checked by setting the Power Switch provided in the rear compartment to `ON’ position.
After checking, the power switch must be set to ‘OFF’ position.
(iii) Check that all the three copies (in the case of simultaneous poll five copies) of the relevant
part of the electoral roll are complete and identical in every respect and, in particular, that
the relevant part given to you pertains to the area for which the Polling Station has been set
up and that it is complete in all respects.
(iv) All the pages in each working copy of the roll have been serially numbered from No.1
onwards.
(v) The printed serial numbers of the voters are not corrected with ink or otherwise and no new
numbers are substituted for them.
(vi) The marked copy of the electoral roll (copy of the electoral roll to be used for ‘marking’ the
names of electors, who are allowed to vote) does not contain any remarks other than those
used for issuing postal ballot papers (such as ‘PB’ ‘EDC’). The deletions appearing in the
supplements, if any, to the roll would be reflected in the reprinted mother roll with the word
“D E L E T E D” diagonally (in case of deletion made during revision period) or
“DELETED” “DELETED” in cross, (in case of deletion made during continuous period
after final publication), as the case may be; superimposed on the concerned elector detail
box to indicate that the entry has been deleted.
(vii) The electoral roll is duly signed by one of the AEROs and one more official.
(viii) A certificate signed in ink by the RO/ARO is attached on the top of one copy of the roll to be
used as marked copy. (Annexure - 4)
(ix) Check that along with the marked copy of the electoral roll the list of absentees, shifted &
Dead (ASD) voters, if any, has been given to you to facilitate identification of voters at the
Polling Station.
(x) Check that the tendered ballot papers supplied to you are for the same constituency in which
the Polling Station assigned to you is situated and that they are not defective in any respect.
You should also check that their serial numbers tally with the details supplied to you.
(xi) If you find any voting machine or any polling material defective in any respect, you must
immediately bring such defect to the notice of the officer in-charge of distribution of voting
machines/polling materials or the Returning Officer for necessary remedial action.
(xii) Also check that photocopies of specimen signatures of the contesting candidates and their
Election Agents are also given to you. This will help you in verifying genuineness of the
signatures of the candidates/their Election Agent in the appointment letter of polling
agent(s) at the Polling Station.
(xiii) In addition to the above-mentioned documents check for two copies of trouble shooting
instructions on handling of CU-BU-VVPAT failures/errors (Annexure – 20) during poll
preparation of polling officials for fault handling and polling materials provided for your
booth should be as per list of polling materials given in Annexure – 3.

(I) The latest Photo Electoral Rolls (PER) is available in respect of your constituency. The
Photo Electoral Roll contains the photographs of the electors in addition to all the
information. This simplifies the process of verification of elector’s identity at the Polling
Station on the poll day.
(ii) All the additions made during period of revision/continuous updation from last final
publication date till the last date of making nominations (where elections are due), are put in
chronological order giving continuous Sl. No. starting with next Sl. No. of last entry in final
roll, with all deletions & modifications marked in last draft/final roll as per Commission’s
existing instructions.
(iii) All the entries which have been modified/corrected on the basis of Form-8, during the
period of revision/continuous updation, will be reflected in the integrated roll itself
replacing the existing entries, with the sign of # (in case of corrections were made during
summary revision) or ## (in case of corrections were made during continuous updation
period after final publication), as the case may be to indicate that the entry has been modified
and replaced. An image of dummy marked copy of Electoral Roll is shown below:
(iv) As per the directions of the Commission the EPIC is used for identification of electors at the
Polling Stations. However, a separate order will be issued for the purpose of identification
by means of any alternative documents as prescribed by the Commission for each election.
(v) The Election Commission has directed that identification of overseas electors at the time of
casting of votes at Polling Station shall be done only based on original Indian passport
containing the elector’s residential address produced by them.

First Polling Officer

The first Polling Officer will be in charge of the marked copy of electoral roll and
responsible for identification of electors. On entering the Polling Station, the elector will
proceed directly to the first Polling Officer. That Polling Officer will satisfy himself about
the identity of the elector. At every election, the Commission issues order regarding
identification of electors. Presiding Officer should go through the order carefully. The
electors are required to produce EPIC or any of the other identification document as
may be specified in the Commission’s Order. When an elector is allowed to cast vote at
the Polling Station, a line will be drawn, in red ink, diagonally across the box containing the
particulars pertaining to the elector in the marked copy of photo electoral roll. Further, for
easy verification and calculation of number of male and female voters, the serial number of
voters will be rounded off in the case of female voter and marking a star near voter serial
number in case of third gender. In addition to this, filling of statistics format is also the duty
of first Polling Officer.
The second Polling Officer will also be in-charge of the Register of Voters in Form
17A. He will be responsible for maintaining in that register the proper account of
electors whose identity has been established and who vote at the Polling Station. The
serial number (and not the name) of the elector as given in the marked copy of the
electoral roll should be noted in column -2 of the Register of Voters (Form 17A). He
will obtain the signature or thumb impression of each elector in that register before
the elector is allowed to vote. The second Polling Officer will also issue a voter’s slip
to each elector after he has entered his (elector’s) particulars in the Register of Voters
in accordance with the procedure described in Chapter – 4. It should be ensured that
sufficient time has elapsed after the indelible ink mark was put so that the mark dries
up by the time the elector leaves the Polling Station. For this purpose, only after the
mark of indelible ink is applied, signature/thumb impression may be obtained in the
Register of Voters.
If an elector refuses to put his signature or thumb impression on the Register of
Voters, he shall not be permitted to vote and an entry ‘Refused to vote’ will be made in
the ‘Remarks’ column of the Register of Voters. The Presiding Officer will have to
sign below such entry. However, if an elector after his electoral roll number has been
duly entered in column -2 of the Register of Voters in Form 17A and has put his
signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L,
decides not to record his vote, a remark to this effect – ‘Refused to vote/Left without
voting’ shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by you and the signature or
thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark. In such case it
shall not be necessary to make any change in the serial number of the elector or of any
succeeding elector in column 1 of the Register of Voters (Form 17A).

Where the number of electors assigned to a Polling Station is small, the duties of the
third Polling Officer can be performed by the Presiding Officer himself, thus making
a further economy in the formation of Polling Parties
such places, the Polling Party may consist of a Presiding Officer and two Polling Officers as
against the three Polling Officers which is the standard form. In that case, the duty of the
First Polling Officer will also include application of indelible ink on the finger of the voter,
after identification of the voter. The second Polling Officer will be the custodian of the ‘CU’
also in such cases, in addition to his normal duties of making the entries in Form 17A
(Register of Voters) and taking the signature/Thumb impression of electors therein. It is
clarified that in such cases where only two Polling Officers are used, it is not necessary to
prepare the voter slip serial numbers. Instead, the second Polling Officer will activate the
‘CU’ and then send the voters inside the Voting Compartment exactly in the same sequence
in which they sign in the Register of Voters (Form 17A). There will be no need to prepare the
voters slip at the Polling Station in such cases. Further in the cases where number of Polling
Officers are restricted to two, the contesting candidate should be informed in writing in
advance about this. The duties to be performed by the two Polling Officers should be
explained to the candidates.
As Presiding Officer, you are over all in-charge of the Polling Station. Your duties are to:
(i) Not miss any of the training classes.
(ii) Keep in ready possession all relevant instructions of the Commission.
(iii) Fully acquaint yourself with the latest rules and procedures prescribed for the conduct of
poll by EVM with VVPAT.
(iv) Familiarize yourself thoroughly with the operation of the EVM with VVPAT and the
functions of various buttons and switches provided therein.
(v) Ensure that, while collecting election materials, all items have been handed over to you as
per the list supplied along with the materials as specified in Annexure – 3.
(vi) Set up the Polling Station as per specification. Place the BU and VVPAT in the respective
Voting Compartments. You should have a clear idea of the arrangements to be made for
setting up of the Polling Station in a proper way especially to secure secrecy of voting,
regulation of voters’ queue, protection of poll proceedings free from outside interference,
etc. On arrival at the Dispersal centre, you should also ensure whether your Polling Station
has CAPF or police arrangement. You should be aware if there is Micro-Observer and
digital Camera/Web casting facility available at the Polling Station.
(vii) Under no circumstances, the Ballot Units, or the Control Units or VVPATs should be placed
on the floor. They must be kept on a table; Connect the Ballot Units and VVPATs with their
respective Units.
(viii) Demonstrate before the hour fixed for actual commencement of the poll to the
candidates/agents present that the voting machines are clear and do not contain any votes.
(ix) Conduct mock poll for Polling Agents to ensure that the EVM with VVPAT is in perfect
working condition by letting the Polling Agents record a few votes randomly for each of the
contesting candidate; tally the CU result and VVPAT paper slips count. The Commission’s
latest guideline stipulates that at least 50 votes will be cast in mock poll and at least one vote
will be cast against each candidate including NOTA.
(x) Clear the mock poll result from CU and remove the mock poll slips from the VVPAT drop
box. Prepare the Certificate of mock poll. (Part – I of Annexure - 5)
(xi) You should be clear that according to the Commission’s instructions, if there is no mock poll
at a Polling Station, there shall be no poll at that Polling Station.
(xii) Remember that the votes recorded at such mock poll must be cleared from the Control Unit
of the voting machine so that no data relating to the mock poll remains in the memory of the
machine and paper slips must be taken out from the VVPAT drop box, so that drop box of
VVPAT is empty after the mock poll.
(xiii) Before the first voter signs in Form 17A (Register of Voters), the Polling Officer-I shall
check with the Presiding Officer and record in INK in Form 17A that “Total in the Control
Unit is checked and found to be Zero”.
(xiv) Ensure that on the green paper seal fixed in the Control Unit for Lok Sabha election only
the candidates for Lok Sabha Election or their Polling Agents, who are present at the Polling
Station at that time, affix their signatures, and similarly, on the green paper seal fixed in the
Control Unit for Assembly Election, the candidates for assembly election or their Polling
Agents alone affix their signatures.
(xv) Demonstrate to the Polling Agents and other persons present that the marked copy of the
electoral roll (copy of the electoral roll to be used for ‘marking’ the names of electors who
are allowed to vote) does not contain any remarks other than those used for issuing postal
ballot papers.
(xvi) See that Voting Compartments have been properly arranged with appropriate posters pasted
outside to indicate clearly the election pertaining to which the Ballot Unit and VVPAT is
kept inside.
(xvii) Ensure that the cables to connect the Ballot Units and VVPATs with their respective Control
Units are placed in such a way that the cable is visible to everyone while also ensuring that
the voters are not required to cross over them during their movements inside the Polling
Station and the entire length of the connecting cable is visible to all and not hidden. It should
also be ensured that the cable does not hang loose under the Voting Compartment. Tape the
connecting wires of BU and VVPAT to the leg of the table with “Transparent Adhesive
Tape” of half inch width in such a manner that the wires do not hang in the air so that the load
of hanging wire does not impact the connecting switch of the BU and VVPAT.
(xviii) Ensure that all the members of the Polling Party are in position well before the
commencement of the poll and all the material and records are kept handy and ready to
commence poll at the appointed hour.
(xix) Prevent any member of the Polling Party or any polling agent from wandering here or there
inside the Polling Station and to keep them seated in their allocated seats.
(xx) Commence the actual poll at the stroke of the hour fixed for commencement of poll. Before
commencing the poll, the candidates, or their agents, who are present at the Polling Station
and the Polling Officers, should be briefed about the maintenance of secrecy of vote. The
provisions of Section 128 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 should be read out
and brought to their notice.
(xxi) Read out the declaration aloud to the hearing of all persons present in Polling Station and
sign on the declaration and obtain signature of such Polling Agents as are present and
willing to affix the same. If any Polling Agent declines to affix his signature, the Presiding
Officer should record the names of such Polling Agent without declaration and make a
declaration in a prescribed form about the demonstration of the voting machine, marked
copy of the electoral roll and the Register of Voters and obtain signature of candidates or
their Polling Agents [Annexure – 6].
(xxii) During the progress of poll, keep a close watch on the movements of the voters and be alert
and watchful so that no voter goes away without voting and go on recording the relevant
events as and when they occur in the Presiding Officer’s Diary [Annexure – 7].
(xxiii) Ensure that during the first hour of the poll when polling is generally brisk, no member of
the Polling Party shows any slackness in the duties allocated to him.
(xxiv) Check the total votes casted periodically with the Control Unit and ensure that voters have
voted according to their serial numbers given on the voter’s slip.
(xxv) Ensure that in simultaneous election, copies of Form 17C [Annexure – 8] for parliamentary
election are supplied to Polling Agents of the candidates in Parliamentary Constituency
only and copies of Form 17C [Annexure – 8] for the Assembly Election are given only to
the agents of candidates of assembly constituency.
(xxvi) At regular intervals check the Ballot Unit(s) and VVPAT to ensure that the voters have not
tampered with it in any manner. You have a right under rule 49Q of the Conduct of Elections
Rules, 1961 to enter the Voting Compartment in such cases and to take such steps as you
may consider necessary to ensure that the Ballot Unit is not tampered with or interfered with
in any way and that the poll progresses smoothly and orderly. However, be careful that,
whenever you enter the Voting Compartment, do not enter the compartment alone. You
should permit and take one or two or more Polling Agents present at the Polling Station to
accompany you.
(xxvii) To regulate the proceedings in the Polling Station for peaceful and smooth conduct of poll,
much tact is required, but at the same time you should be firm and impartial. If any incident
takes place at the Polling Station and is not reported by you, but reported from any
other source, the Commission may take a serious view and initiate action against you.
(xxviii) Close the poll at the hour fixed for the purpose by the Election Commission, even if the
commencement of poll was delayed for any reason. However, all voters present at the
Polling Station at the closing hour of poll shall be allowed to vote even if that means
 continuing of poll for some more time. It should also be ensured that after the closing hour
of poll nobody joins the queue of voters. For this purpose, you should distribute numbered
slips, signed by you, to all the voters standing in the queue starting such distribution of slips
from the last person standing in the queue. After all electors have cast their votes and no one
is left, then the Polling Officer shall put a red line after entry of last sign there giving date and
time. Press ‘Close’ button of the Control Unit after all voters in queue cast their votes. You
should loudly announce about the closing hour of the poll before 15 minutes of the
closing hour.
(xxix) Ensure that at the close of poll, you are required to prepare an ‘Account of Votes Recorded’
in Part I of Form 17C [Annexure – 8] and obtain the signature of the Polling Agents in the
column specified for the purpose in that Form. Authenticated copies of such account of
votes recorded are required to be given to the polling agent of each candidate present at the
Polling Station. You are also required to make a declaration regarding furnishing of such
copies to the candidates’ agents in the form prescribed by the Commission.
(xxx) After the close of poll, the voting machine with VVPAT and all election papers should be
sealed and secured in the manner prescribed by the Election Commission. Candidates or
their agents present at the Polling Station shall also be allowed to affix their seals, if they so
desire, on the voting machine & VVPAT and the election papers, in addition to your seals.
You should carefully follow the relevant instructions about the sealing and securing of
voting machines & VVPAT and election papers so that no mistake is committed.
(xxxi) It is your personal responsibility to hand over the duly sealed and secured voting machine &
VVPAT and all election papers to the officer responsible for the collection thereof, under
proper receipt.
(xxxii) Your duties, in brief, at various stages are given in Annexure - 9 under five different heads
for your ready reference and convenience.
(xxxiii) Check Memo: To ensure that you have fulfilled the various statutory requirements in
connection with the election, the Election Commission has drawn up a Check Memo for
you, which is given in Annexure - 10. The said check memo should be properly maintained
by you.
(xxxiv) You are permitted to carry your mobile phones in silent mode.
1.13. CLOSING THE POLL
(i) The Presiding Officer should ensure that the poll is duly closed at the end of the
polling hour as per the prescribed voting procedures. After the last voter has voted
as per the above procedure, he must press the ‘CLOSE’ button on the Control
Units. After prescribed forms have been carefully and duly filled, he must switch
off the Control Unit and disconnect the VVPAT from Ballot Unit(s) and Control
Unit and seal them in their respective carrying cases. A Report to this effect is to be
prepared as per Part III of Annexure - 5.
(ii) The Presiding Officer shall remove the power pack (battery) from VVPAT in the
presence of Polling Agents after the close of poll. Only after removal of power
pack (battery) from VVPAT the carrying case of VVPAT shall be sealed in the
presence of Polling Agents. The power pack so removed shall be submitted at the
reception centre as per the prescribed procedure. (Refer to latest edition of EVM
Manual)
(iii) In the case of simultaneous election, the papers should be prepared and sealed
separately. At simultaneous elections Presiding Officer should ensure that the
carrying cases of all the units have Identity Stickers of the concerned elections
prominently pasted on the outside. He/She should also ensure that the Ballot
Units, Control Units and VVPATs are placed only in their respective carrying
cases with the election identity label firmly pasted. Further, he should also fix the
duly filled in address tags to the respective carrying cases.
 (iv) Presiding Officer shall hand over all the sealed Units and election records to the
Returning Officer, at the Reception Center.
1.14. SECTOR OFFICER
(i) Sector Officers (SO) act as an interface between Presiding Officer (PrO) and the
Returning Officer (RO). Presiding Officer may get any extra election material,
EVM, VVPAT, power packs etc., if needed, from the Sector Officer.
(ii) It is the duty of PrO to submit vote casting Report after every two hours to SO as
well as he shall supply the information about the number of voters from vulnerable
habitats / communities, who have been ticked in marked copy of Electoral Roll to
SO.
(iii) Part-IV and Part-V of the Presiding Officer’s Report [Annexure – 5] shall be
collected by the Sector Officer. Sector Officer shall submit the said Reports to the
Returning Officer.
1.15. VOTER ASSISTANCE BOOTH
(i) For each Polling Station premise/building location, irrespective of the number of
polling booths, a Voter Assistance Booth shall be setup. Objective is to facilitate
the voter to locate his/her Polling Station number & serial number of voters in the
electoral roll. For this, Part – wise electoral roll is generated in alphabetical order.
Further, alphabetical arrangement of names within a part is not divided section
wise.
(ii) The alphabetical list should preferably be printed in English. For single/double
Polling Stations buildings, no separate team or Voter Assistance Booth is required.
In such cases the alphabetical roll locator will be provided to the Presiding Officer
for easy identification of electors in the Polling Station (in addition to the marked
copy). A team of officials will be appointed by the RO for each VAB. Appointment
is to be made for poll day only. Necessary seating arrangements to be made for
VAB personnel.
(iii) Signage indicating “VOTER ASSISTANCE BOOTH” is to be put up in such a
manner that the same is conspicuous to voters as they approach the
premise/building. VAB personnel will locate the booth number and serial number
of every elector seeking such information.