With exit polls predicting a tough contest between the BJP and SP-BSP-RLD alliance in UP, all eyes will be on the counting of votes for 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Thursday. The counting of votes will start at 8 am on Thursday and continue till the announcement of results late in the evening.
Along with counting for Lok Sabha elections, counting of votes for Agra North and Nighasan Assembly bypolls will also be taken up on Thursday.
For Lok Sabha poll counting, a total of 77 counting centres have been set up by the Election Commission in Uttar Pradesh. Counting of votes for Azamgarh and Kushinagar Lok Sabha seats will be conducted at two centres each while one counting centre has been set up for the rest of 73 Lok Sabha seats.
In UP, a total of over 1.63 lakh polling booths were set up and 979 candidates were in the fray for 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP.
UP’s chief electoral officer Venketshwar Lu said in Lucknow on Wednesday that the strong rooms where EVMs have been stored would be opened in the presence of candidates or their authorised representatives before being taken to counting centres.
For each Assembly segment, 14 counting tables and one table for assistant returning officer have been set up. The CEO said that each candidate was permitted to have one counting agent on each table.
A counting supervisor, along with one assistant, will look after the process and the micro-observer from among Central government officers will also be there. Before counting of each EVM, the seal on the machine will be checked and its number will tallied with the record of EVM.
The CEO further said that the Election Commission had already banned victory processions and other celebrations.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed in all districts and liquor shops across the state will remain closed for the day on Thursday.
“We have imparted training to counting personnel and they have been asked to strictly adhere to rules, regulations and guidelines issued by Election Commission. Trends will be available after completion of a round of counting while results would be declared after approval from the EC. The results would be late this time as five booths in each Assembly segment of a Lok Sabha constituency will be examined with VVPAT slips,” the CEO said.
“This time, counting of postal ballot will take more time as poll personnel will have to record it with bar code of the ballot. On the request of counting agents, recounting of votes can be ordered by the rturning officer and central observers of a particular booth,” he said.
Adequate security measures have been made at the counting centres across 75 districts and in sensitive districts, 200 companies of Central Para-Military Forces and 100 companies of PAC, along with over two lakh district police personnel, have been be deployed to maintain law and order.
The CEO said that a three-tier security system would be in place at the counting centres where no one would be allowed without valid passes. He admitted that to pre-empt post-counting violence, security measures had been made in 13 sensitive districts and adequate CPMF and PAC personnel deployed. Sources claimed that votes of each round would be checked at least thrice before polling agents of all parties before being announced.
