Pune: The district administration in Pune is gearing up for counting of votes on Thursday. Counting will be held for four Lok Sabha constituencies of Pune, Baramati, Maval and Shirur. 

“It is expected that the first round of counting will be done by 9.30 to 10 am,” said Naval Kishore Ram, District Collector at a press conference held at the Collector’s Office on Monday. 

Counting will be held at two strong rooms at Balewadi Stadium and Food Corporation of India godown in Koregaon Park.
He said, “It will take at least 25 to 40 minutes to complete one round of counting.”

Ram also stated that mobile phones and cameras are not allowed inside the counting hall. “Around 220 counting staffers are deployed for postal ballot counting,” he said. 

As per the data provided by the District Collector’s office, expected number of postal ballots to be counted is 27,905.
 
Ram said five VVPAT trails from each Assembly constituency will be randomly selected and it is expected to take 40 minutes for VVPAT counting. There are three layers of security comprising CRPF, SRPF and local police at both the counting stations.