Huzurabad Assembly Constituency Returning Officer Ch Ravinder Reddy has called upon all political parties, the candidates and the counting agents to extend their cooperation to ensure smooth conduct of the counting of votes polled in Saturday’s bypoll to Huzurabad Assembly seat, scheduled for November 2.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday morning, Mr Reddy said the Huzurabad by-election saw a high voter turnout of 86.64% owing to active participation of voters in the by-election.
During the mock poll early on Saturday morning, a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) unit developed a technical glitch in polling station number 200, he said, adding that the defective VVPAT was replaced with another VVPAT kept in the reserve by the sectoral officer.
After the end of polling, the presiding officer along with the sectoral officer and the polling staff brought the EVMs in an RTC bus to the reception centre at the SSR Government Degree and PG College in Karimnagar, the designated counting centre, with police escort.
While the defective VVPAT was being taken from one government vehicle to another government vehicle by a government driver for storing it in the designated godown as per the stipulated guidelines, a person recorded it and posted it on social media, he said, calling upon people not to believe rumours being spread on social media.
All the EVMs (ballot units and control units) used in Saturday’s polling have been stored under tight security in the strongrooms at the SRR Government College, which were sealed in the presence of candidates/election agents, Collector and the District Election Officer R V Karnan as well as the election observers.
