The stage is set for the counting of votes for the Ernakulam and Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituencies here on Friday, with the final results expected to be announced by afternoon.
A batch of 45 counting officials has been deployed for each of the 14 Assembly segments in both the parliamentary constituencies, in addition to 50 other officials. Counting will be carried out on 10-14 tables simultaneously in each of the Assembly segments under the supervision of assistant returning officers.
About 1,500 employees will be in action at the different centres.
A maximum of 500 votes will be counted in one round and it will take about 10–15 minutes to count the votes polled in each of the electronic voting machines. The trends will be known by about half an hour into counting and the final results are expected to be announced by the afternoon.
Counting of votes in all the seven Assembly segments in Ernakulam constituency is being carried out at the Ernakulam Maharaja’s College while that of the Chalakudy will be held at the Thrikkakara Bharatamata College and St. Paul’s International School, Kalamassery. Counting of votes will get under way in the presence of the Central observers beginning with postal votes.
A micro observer entrusted to monitor the activities at each of the centres will give updates of counting to the Central observer on completion of each round. Besides, two additional observers will be deployed to verify the entry of data and the accuracy of updated results.
State police along with three battalions of Central Reserve Police Force comprising 91 personnel have been deployed at the three counting centres in the district. A three-layer security comprising the State police and the CRPF have been deployed at the centres and those entering the counting station will have to go through security checks including body frisking.
The District Collector has banned the use of mobile phones at the counting halls. Only counting agents, media persons and election officials are allowed into the counting centres. Entry to the counting centres will be strictly based on special passes already issued.
