AC counting centres for relief from heat

Bhubaneswar: To beat the heat, all counting centres in Odisha will be air-conditioned for the first time. Counting of votes is expected to take a long time as it will be done both for assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Besides, the EVM and VVPAT results will be tallied at five randomly chosen centres in each constituency, said chief electoral officer of Odisha Surendra Kumar.
Though the CEO’s office is yet to chalk out the details of the air-conditioning programme, 153 counting centres at 62 locations are expected to have it. “The buildings that already have air-conditioning will be preferred for counting,” said Kumar. Puri district will have six more counting centres in view of the damage to infrastructure during Cyclone Fani.
The temperature usually hovers from 37.2°C to 41°C in the state in May. This year, it might be more as a large number of trees have been uprooted in the cyclone. The western districts of Odisha are already reeling under an acute heatwave for the last one week with Titlagarh recording 44.5°C on Sunday. The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has issued a heatwave warning in coastal Odisha till May 16. For the first time, there will be Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) counting one by one at five centres. The duration will be five times more than the time it would have taken if done simultaneoulsy, Kumar added. He said it will take an hour to draw a lottery for paper audit trail checks for each VVPAT machine.
A two-day training session on counting of ballots for the returning officers (ROs) started here on Monday. They were trained in counting and standard operating procedures regarding VVPATs. As many as 70 ROs from 15 districts took part in the session on the first day with those from the remaining districts expected to join on Tuesday, official sources said.