Counting for the Thane Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday will be conducted in thirty-three rounds, with the results to be declared by midnight, according to the Thane election office.

The office informed that the counting will begin at 8am at the New Horizon Scholar’s School in Kavesar and will be over in 12 hours. The declaration of results will take time as the counting of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will also be undertaken.

Twenty-three candidates are in the fray for the Thane seat, with Shiv Sena and NCP being the two main contestants.

Anil Pawar, returning officer, said, “There are six Assembly constituencies. Each constituency will have 14 counting tables.”

On April 29, Thane witnessed a voter turnout of 49.25 %, with 11.46 lakh voters casting their votes through EVM, 3,223 through postal ballots and 232 who voted through Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot (ETPB). Pawar said counting postal ballots will require seven hours, ETPB five hours, and EVMs 12 hours.

Pawar said, “We will complete counting by 8pm, although we will have to consolidate numbers, which will take more than few hours. Five VVPAT machines from each constituency will be counted, thus we will have to count 30 VVPATs. These slips are to be counted manually, thus there are chances of some human error.” Pawar said this means that the result can be declared only around midnight.

The office has also set up strict security guidelines. Counting agents and employees will not be allowed to take their mobile phones or any electronic gadgets inside the counting venue. Only 14 counting agents will be allowed for each Assembly constituency.

First Published: May 22, 2019 15:06 IST