Elaborate Arrangements For Vote Counting

Elaborate arrangements have been made for the counting of the votes of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections that will take place on Friday.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal informed that nearly 25,000 personnel would be deployed for the counting of votes at 168 counting centres in 78 different locations across Andhra Pradesh

Of the 6.49-crore registered voters, nearly 4.82 crores or 74.2% had exercised their franchise on April 30 and May 7 to elect 42 members for the Lok Sabha and 294 members for the Legislative Assembly.

The fate of the 598 candidates for the Lok Sabha and the 3,910 candidates for the Assembly will be known on Friday.

There will be 6,955 counting tables in a total of 437 counting halls. There will be 14 tables in each hall, equally divided for Lok Sabha and Assembly votes.

The Election Commission of India has appointed 189 observers and one micro-observer at every counting centre, and 2 additional micro-observers at each counting hall. Nearly 75,000 police personnel are also being deployed for maintaining law and order during and immediately after the counting.

The Malkajgiri Lok Sabha segment will have the maximum of 45 rounds of counting, while Anakapalli will have the lowest of 18 rounds of counting. Similarly, the Kukatpally Assembly segment will have 45 rounds of counting, and the lowest will be the Charminar Assembly segment.

The postal ballots will be received by 7am on Friday and the counting of votes will begin at 8am with the postal ballot papers. The counting of votes stored in the Electronic Voting Machines is expected to start at about 9am.

The results are likely to be announced by Friday afternoon. People can visit the website www.ceoandhra.nic.in to get updates on the counting.

Earlier in the day, Bhanwarlal held a video conference with the Collectors, SPs and other officials of all districts to review the arrangements for the counting. (INN)