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Chennai, Jul 29 (PTI) A verification process for EVMs used in 14 polling booths within the Kolathur Assembly constituency, from where DMK president M K Stalin lost the April 2026 poll, was held on Wednesday, the party's Legal Wing secretary N R Elangovan said.

Stalin was defeated by TVK candidate VS Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes in the constituency in the recently held elections. A total of 35 candidates contested in the Kolathur Assembly contituency.

Addressing the media here, Elangovan highlighted procedures regarding the "Symbol Loading Unit" attached to the EVMs.

He noted that while the Ballot Unit, Control Unit, and VVPAT undergo regular testing, the Symbol Loading Unit is fitted only three days prior to the election, outside of standard monitoring.

Elangovan cited a Supreme Court directive that provides a new opportunity to file a petition within seven days after the election to verify if the machines functioned correctly. "Based on this, we submitted a petition, and today we must see if that processor is working properly," he stated. The election was held on April 23.

Responding to queries on the scope of the verification, Elangovan confirmed that the process involves 14 polling booths. He further added that engineers were present at the venue.

"Once they explain, we will decide how to proceed further," he said.

Meanwhile, DMK ex-MLA PK Sekar Babu, who also visited the election office to oversee the process, described it as a "mock poll" review.

Babu stated that he visited in his capacity as the district representative to observe the initiation of the proceedings for the 14 polling stations.

Lawyers and the Chief Election Agent for the Kolathur constituency were also present at the venue.

Stalin had reportedly moved the EC complaining that votes likely to have cast for him were not recorded in the said 14 polling stations.