The counting of votes for the Nagpur Division Graduates’ Constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council will begin at 8 am on Tuesday, October 27, at the Mankapur Indoor Stadium in Nagpur. The election authorities have completed preparations for the counting process, which will be conducted at 84 tables. More than 400 officials and employees have been deployed for the exercise. Divisional Commissioner and Returning Officer Vijayalakshmi Bidari Contd from page 1 said that 38 candidates were in the fray for the constituency. The administration has also made elaborate security arrangements at the counting centre to ensure that the process is conducted peacefully and in accordance with the prescribed rules.

 

Polling for the constituency was held on October 23 across six districts of the Nagpur division — Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. Voting took place at 445 polling stations between 8 am and 4 pm, while polling at stations in four talukas of Gadchiroli district concluded at 3 pm. Of the 2,55,603 registered voters, 1,65,672 exercised their franchise, recording an overall turnout of 64.82 per cent. Chandrapur district recorded the highest turnout at 73.05 per cent, followed by Gadchiroli at 72.95 per cent, Gondia at 71.29 per cent, Wardha at 68.35 per cent and Bhandara at 67.07 per cent. Nagpur district recorded the lowest turnout at 60.35 per cent.Second training session completed The second training session for the officials and employees deployed for counting was conducted at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur on Monday.

 

Returning Officer Vijayalakshmi Bidari attended the session and briefed the personnel on the procedures to be followed during counting. She stressed the importance of strictly adhering to election rules, maintaining accuracy at every stage and discharging assigned responsibilities carefully to ensure a transparent and orderly process. Counting centre inspected: Election Observer Dr Harshdeep Kamble and Returning Officer Vijayalakshmi Bidari had earlier inspected the counting centre at Mankapur Indoor Stadium to review the arrangements. The inspection covered the layout of counting tables, seating arrangements for candidates and their representatives, the strongroom for secure storage of ballot papers, and vehicle parking facilities.

 

The administration has focused on security, access control and crowd management at the venue. Police personnel will be deployed in adequate numbers to maintain law and order throughout the counting process. Preference-based counting: As the election was conducted through ballot papers, the counting process will involve scrutiny of ballot papers and verification of their validity in accordance with the prescribed rules. The election will be decided through the preferential voting system. Accordingly, the counting authorities will examine the validity of ballot papers and follow the prescribed stages of preference-based counting before declaring the final result.