Bhatkal: The preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in Bhatkal are in full swing as Election Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines arrived in the town on Saturday morning under tight police security.

310 EVMs and 327 VVPATs were brought from Karwar to facilitate the voting process and were transported to Bhatkal's Guru Sudhindra College, where they were stored in a secure room that was promptly sealed. Surveillance is being maintained by the police and CCTV cameras, with a fire brigade stationed outside the college for added security.

The Bhatkal-Honnavar constituency, where the elections will be conducted on May 7, has 248 polling booths.

As per the election protocol, a day before the election, 248 machines will be dispatched to the designated polling booths, while the additional EVMs and VVPAT's will be available as backups in case of malfunction.

Engineers from Hyderabad or Bangalore will conduct thorough checks on all machines around ten to twelve days before the election, during which approximately 1000 test votes will be cast to ensure proper functionality.

After the nomination process is complete, the machines will be aligned with the election candidates' names, political parties, and symbols in the sealed strong room until election day. Meanwhile, training sessions will be conducted twice for all election officials at Anand Ashram Convent School to ensure a smooth and efficient voting process.

Additionally, Bhatkal election officer and Assistant Commissioner Dr. Naina, Bhatkal Tahsildar Nagraj Naikad, CPI Gopi Krishna, among many other officials, were present during the arrival of the EVMs and VVPATs to oversee the process.