handbook for presiding officers - Chief Electoral Officer, Govt. of Sikkim

13CHAPTER XIII
8FIXING OF GREEN PAPER SEAL IN THE CONTROL UNIT
1. Fixing green paper seal
1.1 In order to maintain the secrecy of ballot, In the conventional system of voting
where ballot papers and ballot boxes were used, the ballot boxes used to be
sealed and secured by fixing a green paper seal specially got printed by the
Commission. Once the green paper seal was fixed in a ballot box and the lid
of the box was closed, the box could not be opened and the ballot papers
contained therein could not be tampered with or taken out for counting unless
the green paper seal was torn. Similar safeguard has been provided in the
voting machine so that once the control unit is sealed and poll commences,
nobody should be able to tamper with the voting machine. To achieve and
ensure this, provision has been made for fixing the same green paper seal in
the control unit of the voting machine, as was used for securing the ballot box.
1.2 There is a frame provided for fixing the paper seal on the inner side of the
door of the inner compartment of the result section of the control unit. Before
the green paper seal is fixed in the frame provided for the purpose on the
inner side of the door of the inner compartment of the result section of the
control unit, you should affix your signature in full immediately below the serial
number of the paper seal on the white surface of the paper seal. It shall also
be got signed by such of the candidates or their polling agents as are present
and are desirous of affixing their signatures. The Presiding Officer should
verify that the signatures of the polling agents on the paper seal tally with their
signatures on their letters of appointment.
1.3 There is provision of two frames In the case of voting machines manufactured
by Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, allowing arrangement for fixing two
paper seals and accordingly two paper seals are to be used in the control
units of the voting machines manufactured by that company, where as in the
case of voting machines manufactured by Electronics Corporation of India
Limited, Hyderabad, there is only one frame providing arrangement for fixing
only one green paper seal. (In the upgraded model of the Electronic Voting
Machine, whether manufactured by BEL, Bangalore or ECIL, Hyderabad, only
one paper seal is used as in the pre-upgraded model of the ECIL machine.)
1.4 The seal should be so fixed that its green surface is seen through the aperture
from out side. When the green paper seal is fixed on the control unit of the
voting machine, it will look as in the picture below:-