EC says all arrangement in place in Haryana

| | Chandigarh
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EC says all arrangement in place in Haryana

Thursday, 23 May 2019 | PNS | Chandigarh

Haryana chief electoral officer, Rajeev Ranjan on Wednesday said that all arrangements, including those pertaining to security have been put in place for the smooth and peaceful process of counting of votes on May 23 in Haryana.

Ranjan inspected various counting centres on Wednesday and issued necessary directions.

The fate of 223 candidates would be known on Thursday when counting of votes gets underway at 90 centres spread over 39 locations in the state. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am and 14 tables have been installed at each counting centre.

Polling in the 10 parliamentary constituencies in Haryana was held in the sixth phase on May 12 in which over 70 per cent of the 1.80 crore people cast their votes.

90 strong rooms were established at 39 locations with 24x7 tight security and CCTV surveillance to ensure the safety of EVMs and VVPAT machines in the state. In the three-tier security arrangements, Central Armed Police Forces is deployed in the first layer near the strong rooms, Haryana Armed Police personnel posted in second layer and district police personnel are manning the outer layer.

With the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) to be counted in five polling booths picked at random from each of the 90 assembly segments of Haryana, the announcement of results for the 10 Lok Sabha seats is likely to be delayed.

Besides the counting of votes cast on EVMs, the votes of defence personnel cast through the Electronically transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) are also likely to consume time.  There are about 1,05,859 service voters in the state.

The postal ballot received from the service voters by 7:59 am. on May 23 would be included in the counting process A large number of ETPBS have been received in Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Rohtak Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

Chief electoral officer, Rajeev Ranjan said that the counting of votes of defence personnel cast through Electronically transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) would be carried out for the first time in the state.

He said that 90 Assembly Constituencies are falling under the ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, 450 voter slips of  VVPAT machines would be matched. The counting of VVPAT machines would be carried out manually, in the presence of observer and returning officer, he said.

For the facility of general public, the results of counting of votes would first be uploaded on Voter Helpline Mobile Application, which would be accurate, he added.

The chief electoral officer further said that during the counting of votes, there would be tight security arrangements outside all counting centres. No other person apart from employees posted on duty, counting agents and authorized media persons by Election Commission of India (ECI) would be allowed within in the premises of counting Centre.

The counting of votes would be carried out in a fair and transparent manner while complying with the guidelines of ECI. After counting, all EVM and VVPAT machines would be kept in strong room for 45 days, which would have full security, he said.

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