The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made elaborate security arrangements for the counting of votes on Thursday. A three-layer round-the-clock surveillance by the CRPF, the Armed Reserve Police and the district police is in place. The trends or results from the counting tables are first sent to the Returning Officers for preparation of the Excel sheets and uploading the same onto the Suvidha App.
The ECI’s approval is first sought for the declaration of the trend or result from the counting halls.
“Hence, those on the premises of the counting centres will be the last persons to know the result,” District Election Officer G. Veerapandian told the media here on Wednesday.
The result would first be uploaded onto the ECI website and then announced at the counting centre. Later, a printout would be given to the candidates and the media, he said.
Mock polling
“Mock polling result at 33 polling stations has not been deleted and cleared from the EVMs and VVPATs. The ECI has given specific instructions to deal with such cases,” said Mr. Veerapandian. Four such polling stations each in Guntakal and Hindupur were identified. In Singanamala, no discrepancy was found, he added. “Discrepancies may arise because of the technical or human errors. Therefore, a specific time on when the results will be out cannot be given. The smallest constituency like Puttaparthi may take extra time,” he observed.
The results might start trickling in from 4 p.m. and go up to 10 p.m. All the counting staff should stay put in the counting centres from 4 a.m. onwards. The result of Penukonda, with just six candidates, might be known first, and that of Rayadurg, with 16 candidates and highest number of voters, last.
