The fate of 443 candidates, including 178 farmers in Nizamabad, who contested from 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State, would be decided on Thursday as the stage is set for counting of votes.
The votes polled by different parties/candidates would be counted at 126 counting halls set up at 36 locations across the State. The State election authority, Chief Electoral Officer’s office, has made arrangements for 14+1 tables at all the counting centres, while the number would be 18+1 in two halls in Nizamabad constituency.
The officials concerned have made special arrangements in Hyderabad and Secunderabad constituencies where counting centres have been set up Assembly constituency-wise owing to population density. The Assembly segment-wise votes would be counted at the district-level counting centres set up in the respective districts.
“Counting will be transparent and will be taken up in line with the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India,” CEO Rajat Kumar said. Over 6,500 officials have been drafted for counting duty and the CEO’s office has requested the EC to permit deployment of more officials, if need be, for expediting counting process in constituencies like Nizamabad where there were significantly higher number of contestants.
The process would commence at 8 a.m. with the counting of regular postal ballots and electronically transmitted ones, which would be followed by opening of the electronic voting machines. Once the counting of the votes polled in the EVMs is completed, the officials would then select five VVPAT machines in each Assembly segment under the respective Lok Sabha seat through a draw of lots.
VVPATs
These slips would then be counted and tallied with the votes polled in the EVMs before the declaration of the final result. “The votes cast in the VVPATs will override those cast in the EVMs in case of any difference in counting between the two,” Mr. Kumar said. However, there have been no instances of mismatch between the VVPAT and EVM votes since the process started in 2013, but the officials concerned have taken precaution to ensure that there was no scope for criticism from any quarter.
The contesting candidates or their agents at the respective counting centres can seek recounting of the VVPAT slips by submitting an application in a prescribed format to the returning officer concerned. “They will be given a decent amount of time to request for recount. But the decision of the returning officer will be final and the RO should record the reasons why he/she permitted or rejected the request for recount,” he said.
Elaborate security arrangements have also been made to ensure that there was no disturbance at the counting centres, while arrangements have also been made to ensure that the progress of counting and round-wise position of leads were posted on e-Suvidha portal so that those interested can track the proceedings till the results were officially declared.
