As the countdown begins for the counting of the votes polled in the 119 Telangana Assembly constituencies on December 7, the political parties and leaders are taut with anxiety.
With the counting set to begin at 8 am (if not at 7 am) on December 11, it is likely that the results of all the 119 seats will be out by 12 noon on the same day.
The Election Commission (EC) has made elaborate arrangements for the counting in all the 45 centres across the state, of which 15 are in Hyderabad district alone.
Speaking to media persons at the Secretariat, Telangana Chief Election Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar said that the EC had put in place tight security for the counting of the votes, and that CCTV surveillance and live coverage of the vote counting process in all the 45 counting centres has also been arranged for.
In the wake of the doubts expressed by the Congress-led Praja Kutami that the TRS might misuse its power to tamper with the EVMs, the officials have taken extra care to avoid any irregularities, and have set up a three-layered security system for the strong rooms.
To avoid doubts and ensure credibility, this time the EC also introduced the VVPATs, enabling the voters to cross-check their votes for seven seconds on a screen.
The overall voting percentage in the December 7 Assembly elections was pegged at 73.2, which is 5% more than that in the 2014 Assembly elections.