The office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal will soon start a drive to explain to voters, polling personnel agents and representatives of candidates and political parties the method of using these voting machines. The procedure for counting the ballots through these machines will also be made known to the polling personnel and political parties. The drive will be popularised through postal leaflets, handbills and the print media. Microphones on rickshaws will be used and video shows will be organized to acquaint the people about the machines.

The voting machine comprises two separate units. One is called the control unit, and the other, balloting unit. A cable connects the two kits. The control unit will be at the disposal of the presiding officer at a polling booth, and the balloting unit will be placed in the closed enclosure for the voters themselves. In the balloting unit, a maximum of 16 names of candidates can be accommodated. If the number of candidates is higher, a second balloting unit will have to installed. Provision will be made for a maximum of 4 balloting units in a particular booth. Five votes can be cast in a minute.

Counting too, will be much faster and the maximum time to be taken has been estimated at three hours for the largest constituency. For the three Lok Sabha constituencies, around 3,500 voting machines will be required. To replace a faulty machine, standby units will be available.

Meanwhile, the CPI (M) has accused the Central government of violating the code of conduct in West Bengal. Giving an example, the CPI (M) MLA Robin Deb alleged at the all-party meeting held at Writers' Building on Wednesday that Calcutta Doordarshan in covering a recent meeting in Salt Lake gave prominence to the Defence Minister George Fernendes and completely ignored the Bidhannagar Municipality Chairman Dilip Gupta who also spoke on the occasion. Matters were made worse when Doordarshan decided to show the state BJP leader Tapan Sikdar during the same programme though he holds no office now.