Dakshina Kannada, Udupi prepared for counting of votes

Team Udayavani, May 15, 2018, 11:23 AM IST

Mangaluru: All preparations have been done for counting of the votes of the 8 legislative assemblies in Dakshina Kannada at Mahatma Gandhi Centenary H.Pr. School and Composite P.U. College  at Bondel on Tuesday. Altogether 18 rounds of counting of vote will take place.

Begins from 8am in the morning

The counting of votes will begin at 8am in the morning on Tuesday. The postal ballots have been given to 11,781 officials on election duty and all the postal ballots received up till 8am will be counted. Half an hour after the counting of postal ballots commences, the counting of votes from EVM will begin, informed district chief election officer Sasikanth Senthil on Monday.

336 staff for counting

18 rounds of counting of votes of 1,858 polling booths of the 8 constituencies will take place. A total 112 tables have been implemented. One in-charge, one staff help and a micro-observer have been appointed. There will be 3 persons per table with a total of 336 staff who will count the vote. There is opportunity for an agent of a political party to be present per table. Web casting facility and CCTV system has been installed at the counting room.     

The VVPAT of one random booth and its chits within will be counted by hand after the counting of vote per constituency is finished. Later the hand counte3d chits will be matched with its EVM count. If a difference is observed, it will be investigated and will be informed to the election commission, he informed.

Three level security

A three level security has been provided to the vote counting centre.

A buffer layer has been provided within 100 meters of the counting centre which prevents the entry of any vehicle to the centre. A gate has been created near the entry point and is guarded by the local police. For the 2^nd level of security, a gate has been created in the premises of the vote counting centre which is guarded by the state armed police.

The entry of mobile, laptop, tablet and audio video recorder into the counting room is banned. For the 3^rd level of security, central armed forces have been requisitioned.

Udupi: The counting of votes of the legislative assembly elections will be done at T.A.Pai English medium school at Kunjibetta on Tuesday. For this the district administration is completely prepared. Heavy security has been provided to the strong rooms containing the vote machines.

District commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis and deputy commissioner Anuradha gave information about the counting of votes at a press conference and later inspected the security provided by the district administration to the counting centre on Monday evening.

The vote counting officer and staff will report to eh centre at 6am in the morning and the doors to the strong room will be opened at 7:50 am. The counting will first begin with the postal ballots and the on duty soldiers vote followed by the EVM’s. In the middle a VVPAT machine will be examined. Candidates can ask for any random VVPAT to be counted. But the right to accept this demand or reject it lies in the hands of the election officer.

For counting the votes of the 5 constituencies, 14 tables have been provided at the room and with a table for the election officer. Byndoor 18, Kundapura and Udupi 16, Kaup and Karkala will have 15 rounds of counting. The result will be out in the afternoon at 12:30 pm.

Entry within the counting centre is strictly limited to the in-charge, helper, government officials on duty, candidates and their agents, vote counting agents and additional persons admissible as per the election commission’s direction.  

Prohibition

Section 144 has been invoked throughout the district from 6am on May 15^th to 6am on May 17^th. In lieu of the victory, bursting of crackers is not permitted from 10 am May 15^th to 6 pm May 17^th. Sale of liquor has been banned from 14^th May midnight to 15^th May midnight, informed district officials.