With the conclusion of voting for the Lok Sabha polls across the country on Saturday, preparations for the counting of votes in the State have intensified. The vote counting process is set to begin on June 4 at 8 a.m., and the first round results will start trickling in from 9 a.m. onwards.
Colour badges
Overall, a total of 13,173 counting staff have been trained for the vote-counting process and have been deployed at the centres.
Besides, an additional 20% of the designated counting staff will be on standby. To ensure accuracy and prevent errors, staff will be given different colour badges and identity cards in each Assembly constituency.
Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka, told The Hindu that there would be a total of 29 counting centres — one in each parliamentary constituency and two in Tumakuru owing to logistical issues.
“There are around 3,500 tables in all counting centres put together and each table will be manned by a counting assistant, counting supervisor, and micro observer. Besides, Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) will be stationed at separate tables,” he said.
Randomisation of staff
While one round of randomisation for the counting staff has been completed, another will be on June 3, a day before the counting day and a third one on the day of counting on June 4 in the presence of micro observers. The staff will be assigned to tables only on the day of counting, he said.
Venkatesh Kumar R., Additional CEO in Karnataka, said this time the counting data would be entered after completion of counting on each table.
“This time data will be entered table-wise and not round-wise that was done during previous elections. Each table will have one CCTV camera fixed in a position that will not capture the control unit display,” he said.
Postal ballot counting
Pointing out that each parliamentary constituency would have a separate postal ballot hall, Mr. Kumar said some counting centres — where the number of postal ballot voters were high — would have more than one postal ballot counting hall. Postal ballot counting would happen simultaneously with EVM votes counting.
Postal ballots are those polled by service voters, polling personnel, personnel deployed on emergency duties and essential services, apart from the elderly aged above 85 and persons with disabilities.
Counting personnel deployed for postal ballot counting have been advised on how to identify invalid ballots and count them, and two dry runs on declaration of results have been done. Besides, preparations at the counting halls have been completed with separate seating arrangements for counting staff and counting agents. While deployment of security staff at the counting centres has been done, dedicated high speed Internet lines from two service providers have been made available.
VVPAT counting
Although the counting process of EVM votes is likely to be completed by around 1 p.m., the final declaration of results will happen only after the mandatory verification of VVPAT paper slips of randomly selected five polling stations from each Assembly constituency, as mandated by the Supreme Court.
“The counting and verification of VVPAT paper slips is likely to take around three hours. This is likely to delay the final declaration of results. We are expecting the final results to be available by around 6 p.m.,” said Mr. Kumar.
Published - June 01, 2024 09:56 pm IST
