Even as the political parties and people are holding their breath with a day left for the counting of votes, Collector K. Bhaskar on Tuesday said that though the winning trends would come early, the formal declaration of results would take longer as the counting of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) could extend up to late in the night.
“The district administration is working overtime to see that the counting process will be completed sans hassles. For few constituencies in the Visakha Agency such as Araku and Paderu, the formal declaration of results might extend up to the next day,” Mr. Bhaskar said.
33 rooms earmarked
Giving details, he said that counting would be held in 33 rooms at Andhra University Engineering College, of which 15 rooms have been earmarked for Assembly segments, 15 for the three parliamentary constituencies and three for postal ballots and electronic postal ballots.
The counting process will begin at 8 a.m. with the postal ballots followed by electronic postal ballots. The counting of votes caste through EVMs will begin at 8.30 a.m. “They can also take place simultaneously,” Mr. Bhaskar said.
The counting will be done for about 4,100 EVMs and at least five VVPATs should be taken up for counting from each Assembly segment as sample check as per the order of the ECI.
For a parliamentary constituency, it will be be a minimum of five from each Assembly segment under its purview. Based on the discrepancies, the number of VVPATs will be increased.
“The counting of VVPATs will be taken up in bigger numbers if only the visual display of an EVM does not function, which is again one in every 10,000 possibility or in a case when the mock votes have not been erased from the machines,” the Collector said.
In total 49,793 postal ballots were issued in the district and the electronic postal ballots were 16,437. The number received till Tuesday evening was around 37,600 and postal ballots can be received till 7.59 a.m. on Thursday (May 23).
Postal ballots
The counting of postal ballots will also take time as more than 39,775 votes were received till Tuesday evening which is likely to take at last five to six hours, the Collector said.