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EVMs in strongroom under web
Amid tight security, besides webcast of the strongroom and counting hall, all measures are in place for the counting of votes on Sunday in the much watched RK Nagar bypoll, according to the sources from the Election Commission.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
A total of 500 police personnel has been posted in the counting centre and is complemented by the paramilitary forces, round the clock, with a threetier security. There were instances of ballot units malfunctioning and in such cases votes from both the ballot units would be counted.
The polling officials were also trained to count the votes from Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) used along with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs). There would be 18 full rounds of counting along with a truncated 19th round on 14 tables set up in the counting hall. Sources said there would be as many as 100 counting personnel, who would be engaged in the counting process. “Each count ing table would have a Micro Observer apart from counting staff.
The Micro Observer would be an employee of either Central Government / PSU of Central Government,” an EC official said. “To ensure transparency in the process, copy of result of each table would be given to each counting agent by the Counting Supervisor.
After completion of each round of counting, candidate-wise votes secured in Assembly Constituency would be tallied and displayed before commencement of next round of counting. A copy would also be given to candidate or his agent, apart from announcement on loudspeaker,” the official further explained.
The counting will begin at 8 am at Queen Mary’s College and the process will be videographed for future reference. Besides, the strongroom would be under webcast surveillance. Before the Returning Officer declares Result of the by-election, he would have to obtain an authorisation for Declaration of Result from the Observer present in the hall.
Agents not happy with arrangements
Agents of contesting candidates, who inspected the strong room where the EVMs are in safe-custody on Friday cried foul over lack of arrangements to accommodate all of them during the counting process. Some even blamed that the polling had come down to as low as 15 per cent in some booths.
By convention, the EC should allow one agent for every table set up for counting, whereas the by-election saw 59 candidates including a woman in the fray. “When we went inside to check the arrangements in place, we were asked to adjust and coordinate with other candidates during counting,” said an agent. “They claim that it was impractical to set up each table to accommodate all the 59 agents.
They should have done something about it when they already knew how many candidates were contesting when they published the final list of candidates,” one of the agent of an independent candidate rued. However, EC officials confirmed that they had sent out a plea to all the candidates to mutually select their agents for a smooth counting process.
“Accommodating all agents in every table would create difficulties in counting process. We have tried to accommodate the maximum number of people,” the official said.
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