Pune: Following the recent vote counting for the 21 assembly constituencies in Pune district, all EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines), VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails), and control units have been sealed and stored in a secure warehouse in Bhosari.

The district administration has confirmed that these machines, along with their data, will be preserved for a 45-day period.

This preservation period allows time for any candidate objections to be filed. If an objection regarding vote counting is raised within these 45 days, the Election Commission will conduct a recount as per its procedures.

The decision to store the machines for this period ensures that complete voting records are available in case of a legal dispute or candidate objection.

The machines were resealed immediately after the vote count was completed and transferred to the Bhosari warehouse, where a specially designated strong room has been set up for safe storage.

Police security has been deployed on a 24-hour basis to protect the machines during this preservation period.

According to the district administration, if no objections are raised within the 45-day period, the data in all machines will be deleted, and the machines will be returned to the Election Commission.

This is part of the standard protocol to clear and recycle voting machines for future elections, in alignment with the guidelines issued by the Election Commission.