A Central security person guarding the strong room established at Exhibition grounds in Hyderabad on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, where the The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)s have been stored.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
Hyderabad District Election Officer and GHMC Commissioner D. Ronald Rose said all arrangements are in place for counting of votes pertaining to the Lok Sabha elections, and one Assembly byelection, on June 4.
Addressing a media conference on Saturday, along with the Returning Officers of Hyderabad and Secunderabad parliamentary constituencies, he said that a total of 16 counting centres have been set up at 13 locations.
Jubilee Hills Assembly segment will have 20 counting tables while 14 tables each have been arranged for all other Assembly segments. Yakutpura segment has the highest counting rounds at 24, while Charminar has the lowest at 15.
No mobile phones will be allowed into the counting centres, where three-layer security has been deployed. Strong rooms will be opened in the presence of political party agents.
The counting staff will be randomised in the presence of the observer early on June 4, and allotted table-wise. Counting will begin at 8 a.m. in segments where there are no postal ballots, and at 8.30 a.m., where postal ballots are cast.
Election Commission of India has deployed one observer per Assembly segment, and two micro observers. Every counting table will have a counting supervisor, counting assistant, and micro observer.
Postal ballots will be counted in three separate centres — Kamala Nehru Women’s Polytechnic for Hyderabad parliamentary constituency, Osmania University’s Centre for Distance Education for Secunderabad parliamentary constituency, and CSIIT, Wesley College for Secunderabad Cantonment byelections.
A total of 1,200 counting staff and more than 1,000 other staff have been deployed for counting. Every counting centre will have official communication room, media centre and public communication room. After every round, the data will be recorded in Encore app.
