The counting of the votes of the Panchayat elections will be held at various taluk centres on February 23.

Addressing mediapersons at his office in Mangaluru on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer (DEO) A B Ibrahim said that in Mangaluru, the counting will be held at the Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Higher Primary School, Bondel; in Bantwal, Infant Jesus English/Kannada Medium School, Modankaup; in Belthangady, at the SDM PU College, Ujire; in Puttur, Vivekananda English Medium School, Tenkila, Puttur; and in Sullia, Nehru Memorial College, Sullia.

He said the counting of the Zilla Panchayat and the Taluk Panchayat votes will be held separately in the counting centres. “The strong room will be opened at 7.30 am. The counting will start at 8 am and the results are expected to be declared by 1 pm. The total number of counting rooms and tables for the Zilla Panchayat vote counting in all five taluks are 15 and 108 respectively and for taluk panchayats, 23 and 136 respectively,” he added.

“For the counting of Zilla Panchayat votes, 108 counting supervisors, 108 counting assistants have been deployed while for the counting of the taluk panchayat votes, 136 counting supervisors and 136 counting assistants have been deployed,” Ibrahim informed.

As per the directions of the State Election Commission, the updates of the results will be put up on the Election Commission website. Permission has been granted to agents to be present at the counting centres, the officer added.

The total percentage of voting in the district is 69.16. The taluk-wise voting percentage is Mangaluru – 65.54 per cent, Bantwal – 71.69 per cent, Belthangady – 66.73 per cent, Puttur – 71.47 per cent and Sullia – 74.40 per cent. Compared to the Zilla Panchayat/ taluk panchayat elections in 2010, there has been 2.16 per cent increase this time. In the gram panchayat elections held in 2015, it was 72 per cent. In the Assembly elections in 2013, there was 74 per cent voting and during the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, there was 77 per cent voting.

“During the elections, 27 electronic voting machines were replaced (10 in Zilla Panchayat elections and 17 in taluk panchayat elections), out of which 11 had problem with the control unit and 16 were replaced for other technical problems. There was no violation of model code of conduct during the elections,” the DEO said.

No victory processions are permitted on the day of counting. The processions could be taken only on the next day. Dry day will be observed between February 22 from 10 pm and February 23 midnight, he added.