PATNA, April 23 -- The State Election Commission (SEC) gearing up for the panchayat polls later this year will be holding the election through multi-post electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time to maintain higher transparency and quick results of the winning candidates. The last panchayat polls in Bihar held in 2021 were held through simple EVMs . In total, the SEC, the state poll panel which conducts panchayat polls, is set to buy 32,200 control units and 1,93,200 baloot units of multi post S-3 model EVMs, officials said. The panchayat polls for filling up around 2.45 lakh posts in the three tier panchayat institutions (PRIs) including gram katchaharies is expected to be held from September onwards in a phase wise manner. On Wednesday, State Election Commissioner, Deepak Prasad held a high level meeting with all DMs-cum-district election officers to assess the preparations for the panchayat polls and issued directives regarding storage and regular vigil of new EVMs to be sent to the districts in coming weeks. "The regular monitoring of EVMs at the ware houses through CCTV cameras and deployment of security personnel is imperative. The first level checking (FLC) of EVMs in the presence of representatives of political parties should also be done as per the timeline," the state election commissioner told the DMs, as per a press statement issued by SEC. Referring to the use of multi post EVMs. the SEC said the new EVMs would help voters to cast their votes for multiple candidates for six posts at a time and it would also facilitate quick counting of votes in a transparent and error free manner. "The multi-post EVMs are tamper proof equipped with storage memory module( SMM) which enables counting of votes faster and more correctly," the SEC said. Besides, the SEC also directed the DMs to start the exercise for final publication of form -1 for getting the population and boundaries of each panchayat body , a process necessary for carrying the reservation of seats for OBCs, EBCs, scheduled caste/ tribe and women in the PRIs. The reservation of seats in the PRIs for reserved category through rotation is done after every two successive panchayat polls. The last exercise was done before the 2016 panchayat polls, officials said. The SEC has directed that all guidelines issued for fillingup of form 1 should be followed and it should be displayed in the concerned government offices after the publication of the form-1 while the claims/ objections should be disposed of withing the stipulated time frame. The draft publication of the form -1 in all districts would be done on April 27 and objections would be invited from April 27 to May 11 and disposal would be done from April 27 to May 14. The firnal publication of the form 1 would be done on May 25. SEC officials said the publication of form-1 is necessary as this time a lot many panchayat bodies have got upgraded to urban local bodies and the population/ boundaries of panchayat bodies have got altered....