Counting of votes in the Vellore Parliamentary electisons will commence at 8 a.m. on Friday. The leads will be available by afternoon.
Briefing officials at the Collectorate on Thursday, District Election Officer and Collector A. Shanmuga Sundram said the process would begin with counting of postal ballots, followed by electronically registered votes and votes polled in ballot units.
In all, there would be 14 tables for the Lok Sabha constituency and each table would have 42 counting personnel, including three officials - a counting supervisor, a micro observer and a counting assistant. He said all the personnel should report for duty by 6 a.m. at the counting centre.
Second level training was imparted to 324 personnel drawn from various government agencies, who will be a part of the counting process at Ranipet Engineering College (REC) in Walajapet. After the elections on Monday, EVMs, control units and VVPAT machines were kept in strong rooms at the REC in Walajapet, the counting centre. A three-tier, round-the-clock security system has been deployed at the centre and the sealed strong rooms are being guarded by the police. While extending invitations by issuing photo-identity cards, the DEO laid out strict restrictions on the coverage of counting progress.
The instructions said that the media crew should be present at the counting centre by 7:30 a.m. and would only be allowed to take videos or photos if the deputed officer permitted. Mobile phones are prohibited inside counting hall. There will also be time and access restrictions for the photo and video journalists. They will have to confine themselves to the media centre.
“These instructions were imposed on the April 18 elections and discourage journalists from electronic media to obtain extra information to compete with others,” said a senior journalist from Vellore. After the completion of each round of counting, results would be announced by a public address system at the media centre. Journalists are expected to co-operate with the administration, said a press note.
