The political parties and the Chandigarh Election Department have geared up for the Lok Sabha poll results to be announced on Thursday.

Among the total 36 candidates in the fray for Chandigarh’s lone parliamentary seat, the prominent contenders included the Bharatiya Janta Party’s candidate and outgoing MP Kirron Kher, Congress’ former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, Aam Aadmi Party’s Harmohan Dhawan, a former Union Minister.

The city had witnessed 70.62 per cent voter turnout on May 19. The highest voter turnout of 85.41 per cent was recorded at the polling stations at Government Model High School, Sector 25, which received voters from Bapudham and Government Model School (SMART), Sector 53, close to the slum areas in Chandigarh.

Mandip Singh Brar, Returning Officer cum Deputy Commissioner said that we have made arrangements for the successful and peaceful conduct of counting of votes on May 23.

The candidates and their party representatives have been briefed about the counting process to be undertaken at the counting centre- Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET), Sector 26 here for Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency, said a spokesman of Chandigarh Election Department.

The strong room containing EVMs used during the polling, which is being guarded by Central Forces, will be opened at 7 am on Thursday in the presence of candidates and their representatives. The entire CCET premises is under CCTV surveillance for the smooth conduct of counting process, he said.

The pre counting for ETPBS and counting for postal ballots will begin at 8 am. Thereafter around 8:30 AM the counting of votes in EVMs will be done in the main hall and the additional hall, he added.

It was informed that the counting process will be supervised by three AROs namely Arjun Sharma, Anil Garg and Uma Shankar under the overall supervision of the Returning Officer cum Deputy commissioner Mandip Singh Brar.

For the transparent conduct of the counting process, all the security arrangements have been put in place and copy of instructions of counting of VVPAT slips, counting agents, and other general instructions about the counting process were given to the representatives of the political parties, the spokesman added.

Suspecting tempering with EVMs, some Congress leaders in the city had a day before pitched a tent outside the CCET in Sector 26, where EVMs have been kept since May 19.

The counting centre is already being guarded by a three-tier security circle with round-the-clock presence of the local police, the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

On the polling day, 597 booths at 191 polling stations were set up in Chandigarh, which is a joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had lost to Kirron Kher by nearly 70,000 votes.