India News | LS Polls: Preparations Completed Counting of Votes in Gujarat, Says CEO
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. All necessary preparations have been completed for counting votes across 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, which will begin at 8 am on June 4, the state chief electoral officer said on Tuesday.
Ahmedabad, May 28 (PTI) All necessary preparations have been completed for counting votes across 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, which will begin at 8 am on June 4, the state chief electoral officer said on Tuesday.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P Bharathi held a review meeting with the district election officers and state police nodal officers through video conference from Gandhinagar.
"The counting of votes will begin at 8 am on June 4 across all polling stations, and necessary preparations have been completed," Bharathi said.
The Anand Lok Sabha seat will have two counting centres, while the remaining 24 will have one centre each, she said.
Polling was held for 25 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in the third phase of the elections on May 7.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared an uncontested winner from the Surat seat after the nomination forms of the Congress candidate got rejected and other candidates withdrew from the fray.
The CEO said 56 counting observers, 30 election officers and 180 assistant election officers will be on duty during the counting.
"Apart from this, 614 assistant election officers have been assigned the responsibility of the postal ballot and electronically transmitted postal ballot system. All the observers will reach their respective place of duty by June 2, two days before the counting of votes," she said.
The first randomisation of the counting staff will be done a week before the counting date, the second randomisation 24 hours before counting, and the third at 5 am on the day of counting in the presence of observers, the official said.
A micro-observer, a counting supervisor and a counting assistant will be deployed at each counting table, with two micro-observers placed in the counting hall. The entire process will be videographed, she said.
The CEO said the strongroom will be opened in the presence of the election officer/assistant election officer, candidates or their authorised representatives and observers appointed by the Election Commission of India.
The EVMs will be taken out round wise and brought to the counting hall, she said.
A three-tier security system will be in place at all the counting centres, with the local police deployed outside the campus of the counting centre, personnel of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) at the counting location, and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) outside the counting centre and at the door of the strongroom, the CEO said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)