the goan I network
MARGAO
Attention candidates, agents, sympathizers and supporters. Counting of votes of the Lok Sabha election will not only be different this time, but slow as well.
Unlike the previous elections, the results will not come around noon, but candidates and their supporters will have to wait till late evening to know their fate. And, the official declaration of results may come later in the night, sources said.
Reason: The Election Commission has finally settled for counting of VVPAT slips of five booths in every Assembly segment. With the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency made up of 20 Assembly segments, election officials will have no option but to count VVPAT slips of 100 polling stations, which is expected to delay the counting process by a few more hours.
In fact, South Goa Returning Officer Ajit Roy told the media that the counting process will not only be little different, but will be slow as well.
The Returning Officer told the candidates and their agents on Saturday that they should exercise patience this time around.
“All of us should be patient as counting will be slow this time round. If EVM counting used to take around
three hours, VVPAT counting may take another four hours. The overall time will be double this time around,”
Roy said.
With the Election commission laying guidelines for the counting process, the entire process will take long time. Going by EC’s guidelines of counting VVPAT slips from five polling stations of every Assembly segment, the officials are gearing up for counting of slips from 100 polling stations spread across the 20 Assembly segments in
South Goa.
Meanwhile, Roy explained to the candidates and their agents in detail how the counting process would be different this time as per the Election Commission guidelines and sought their cooperation.
He also discussed with the agents of the candidates the security and traffic arrangements put in place by the police and traffic departments and the parking arrangements made in and around the Multipurpose Complex, Borda, the notified place for counting of votes for South Goa.
