C'ballapur ready for D-day

All arrangements have been made for the counting of votes

Returning Officer Anwar Pasha addressing, the press persons after reviewing the arrangements made for the counting of votes at the SJC Technical College, on Tuesday said, all the necessary measures have been taken for the smooth counting at the College. Counting will be probably finished within 18 rounds, he added.

A total of 1,400 staff are deployed for the counting of votes and 500 police are deployed for security purpose. A Media Centre has been opened at the College. Counting of the votes of the five Assembly constituencies will be done at the administrative building of the College, and the counting of the remaining 3 constituencies will be carried out at the ‘B’ block.

As many as 14-18 tables for each constituency, have been arranged. 18 tables for the Yalahanka constituency, 16 for the Doddaballabura and 14 tables for the remaining six constituencies - Nelamangala, Hosakote, Devanahalli, Chikkaballapura, Gauribidnur and Bagepalli, have been put up.

In two rooms

The counting of votes from each of the Assembly constituency will be carried out in two rooms. NWC, Excel and 40 computer systems related to the Election Commission will be used for the purpose.

The result after every rounds of counting can be updated on the Election Commission website. As many as five broadband connections have been sought and 30 data operators will be on duty.

The counting staff will be at the Counting Centre on May 16 at 5 am and make the necessary arrangements. The strong room will be opened in the presence of all the candidates at 8 am. Counting of the first round will commence at 9 am, and each round of counting is expected to finish within half an hour. In the first round, postal ballot and service ballot will be counted. In the next rounds, votes in the EVMs will be counted, he said.

A supervisor, two assistants, one micro-observer is in-charge of each table. Two additional micro-observers are appointed for each rooms. The micro-observers will hand over the results after each rounds to the assistant returning officer. After scrutiny, the results will be handed over to the returning officer and later on, the results will be made public, he added.