the goan I network
MARGAO
Hazard a guess how much time will it take for the election staff to complete counting of votes and declare results for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat on May 23?
Pose this question to Returning Officer, Ajit Roy, and he only says that it may take minimum 7-8 hours to complete counting of votes of 10 Assembly segments. And, taking into account that South Goa Lok Sabha constituency comprises 20 Assembly segments, it may take 14-16 hours for the authorities to complete the counting process, indicating that the official result will be out only late Thursday evening.
“I am not into any guess work on the time required to complete the country process, it may take more than 7-8 hours to complete counting of votes of 10 Assembly segments. We have to only ensure that the counting process is transparent. There’s no hurry on our part. Our staff is ready to wait for two days and ensure that the counting process is completed in a transparent manner,” Roy told the media.
He further said that votes of the Shiroda bypoll and the Shiroda Assembly segment of the Lok Sabha constituency will be taken up simultaneously in one counting hall having 12 tables.
Addressing the media, the Returning Officer said that the strong room will be opened in the presence of the candidates or their election agents at 7 am on Thursday. Counting of votes will start at 8 am and the first 10 Assembly segments will be taken up in the first round. Each counting hall will have 10 halls.
He pointed out that once the EVM count is completed in a particular segment, the authorities will select VVPATs of five polling stations of that segment for counting. He made it clear that the VVPAT slip counting of one particular segment will not be taken up simultaneously, but will be counted one after another, indicating that the process of counting VVPAT slips will be time consuming.
“Once counting of votes of one segment is completed in all respects, the EVMs and VVPATs of the second segment will be brought for counting. Roughly, counting of votes of one Assembly segment may take 7-8 hours. For the second round, it may take similar time,” he added.
To a question, he said one cannot guess the time required to complete the VVPAT counting, saying it all depends on the number of votes polled in a given booth. “In rural areas, the votes polled in a particular booth may be less compared to a booth in urban areas. We cannot guess the exact time that may be needed to count the VVPAT slips,” he added.
Roy said the election authorities have made arrangements for the drop in facility for the election staff, saying that two sets of election staff, for morning and evening sessions will be deployed for the counting duties. “The counting staff will be transported from the District Collectorate to the counting centre in Bal Rath buses. Women staff will be deployed in the morning session,” he added.
Mapusa and Mandrem bypoll results expected early
PANAJI: The State is all set for Lok Sabha and bypoll elections counting on May 23 along with the rest of the country. Though the counting process is expected to go till late, the Mapusa and Mandrem bypoll results are expected to come out early as counting of this constituency is expected to take place in the first round.
Speaking to the media, North Goa Collector R Menaka informed that the counting on May 23 will begin at 8 am and may last for more than 16 hours.
Collector said that the counting will be done at the Government Polytechnic College, Altinho, which is also a strongroom. On counting day no vehicles will be allowed within 100 metres of the counting centre.
Total 469 counting staff will be deployed in the counting process, informed the Collector.
The counting premises have been converted into a fortress with full security arrangements. Presently, the strongroom is guarded by a three-tier security arrangement with deployment of state and central security officers.
There are 100 CCTV cameras in the area. The Returning Officer is inspecting the strongroom on a daily basis.
As per information given by the collector on the day of counting at 5 am randomisation of counting staff will be done. At around 7 am the strongroom will be opened in the presence of representatives of the candidates.
At 8 am counting of the postal ballots will be taken up first. Simultaneously, the EVMs will be taken up for counting in the other halls.
There will be 11 counting halls and one counting observer for each hall. Mandrem and Mapusa constituency will be taken up for counting
simultaneously of both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
“In the first round 126 tables will be used and in the second 115 tables,” informed the collector.
In each constituency, VVPAT slips of five
polling stations will be counted and tallied with EVM figures.
VVPAT counting is expected to delay the counting process. There are total 20 constituencies. So VVPAT slips of a total of 100 polling booths will have to be checked on the counting day. Each booth VVPAT slip counting is expected to take half an hour.
