The State Election Commission (SEC) will purchase new multi-post electronic voting machines (MPEVM) for the upcoming General elections to 1200 local self-government institutions.

The machines will be purchased at a cost of Rs 37.39 crore. 14,000 control units, 26400 ballot units and 35000 DMM( detachable memory module) will be purchased for the elections.

The DMM is an external memory device that supplements the built-in memory by simultaneously storing the data recorded in it. It can be detached from the machines and stored independently.

The transportation charges and loading and unloading charges will also have to be met by the SEC. The advance amount required for the above purchase is Rs 18,69,57,500.

The SEC had purchased multi-post EVMs in 2015, which were also used in 2020. When an additional requirement is needed, the SEC will hire from the Election Commission of India (ECI). However, this time, SEC has been told that it won't be able to procure extra machines from the ECI.

The additional requirement has been necessitated by the process of delimitation, following which ward boundaries of local bodies have been redrawn and new wards have been created. The number of gram panchayat wards has increased in Kerala by 1375, municipal wards by 128 and corporation wards by 7.

Multi-post machines are used in elections in three-tier panchayats so that voters can cast three votes: for gram panchayat, block panchayat and district panchayat.