GHMC Election Results From 5 pm To 8 pm On Feb 5

Contrary to the original plan, the first results of the GHMC elections are likely to come out only after 5 pm on Friday, and not by 8am.

Generally wherever electronic voting machines are used the election results start coming out from early on the day of counting. But the Election Commission has ordered re-polling in the Puranapul division from 7 am to 3 pm, resulting in the counting and the results starting only after that, at about 5pm.

Addressing mediapersons on Thursday, GHMC Commissioner Dr Janardhan Reddy announced that counting of votes would begin after the Puranapul repolling on Friday, and that only after 5 pm would the trends/results start to trickle out. The results would be announced only after the reaching of the ballot boxes of the Puranapul repoll and the completion of the counting of votes, he said.

Giving the details of the arrangements for the vote-counting, the GHMC Commissioner said that postal ballots would be opened for counting first. The results of 26 wards are likely to be announced first, and the results of another 26 wards will come out by 6 pm. All results will come out by 8 pm on Friday night.

If there were any announcements of results before 5 pm, action would be taken as per the rules, the Commissioner warned.

Dr Reddy said that the counting of votes would take place in 24 localities. Stating that prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were clamped near the vote-counting centres, the Commissioner urged the leaders of all political parties not to come near these centres. Only those who carried passes would be allowed, he said.

As the Puranapul division is going in for re-polling, poll officials have been directed not to ask for voter slips, and just put ink on the middle finger. There are 34,400 voters in the division, and 200 polling officials have been deputed to conduct the elections, the Commissioner said.