Counting for 7 Assembly segments to be held in Raipur while remaining two at Balodabazaar
| Date :19-May-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
RAIPUR,
Under the Lok Sabha Elections – 2019, counting will be held on May 23 for Raipur Lok Sabha at E block in Government Engineering College, Sejbahar. In this direction a significant meeting of Assistant Returning Officers and concerned departmental officials was chaired by Raipur Collector Dr Basavaraju S and issued necessary directives.
The process of counting will commence from 8am on May 23 with the counting of postal ballots. Subsequently, counting from EVMs and if necessary from VVPATs will commence from 8.30am onwards. Of the total nine Assembly segment coming under Raipur Lok Sabha, counting for seven Assembly segments will be held in the capital while counting for the remaining two segments (Balodabazaar and Bhatapara) will be held at Balodabazaar. On completion of every round of counting from all nine Assembly segments, votes received by candidates will be announced. Accordingly, the Collector directed officials to ensure necessary arrangements of furniture, cooler, drinking water, etc for counting officials and employes, candidates and their counting and polling agents along with arrangement of sound system, barricading, pandal, stage for distribution of election certificate, etc. It was informed that all officials and employees who have been engaged in counting duty, will have to report at counting hall along with their ID cards issued by ECI at Government Engineering College, Sejbahar.
They will report to their counting table at 7am sharp. No electronic gadgets including mobile phones, calculator, pen-drive as well as pen and pencil will be allowed. The counting supervisors and assistants will be allocated counting tables after third randomisation which would be carried out at 5am on May 23 in the presence of central observers. The Collector informed that in every counting hall, 14 tables will be installed. EVMs (control unit) will be brought to all 14 tables simultaneously starting from polling booth-1. Only control units will be brought for counting and no ballot unit will be brought. If necessary, VVPAT units will be brought to the counting hall.
Every control unit will be accompanied with relevant documents. As per ECI directive, counting of next round can be commenced only after conclusion of counting of the previous round. Every table will consist of one counting supervisor and one counting assistant. One Micro-observer will be present in every table as a representative of General Observer appointed by Election Commission of India, and will monitor the counting process. After completion of every round of counting, the micro-observers will be recording the results and will forward the same to the ECI. All activities will be essentially videographed. Media personnel carrying ID cards issued by ECI will be allowed entry into the counting centre. They will be having access to media centre established inside the counting centre and they can carry mobile phones there. However, even media persons will be not allowed to carry mobile phones inside the counting halls.