Elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth counting of votes in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency to be held at Kendriya Vidyalaya at Chenneerkara near here on Thursday.
Counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 a.m. A total of 1,452 postal votes have been received at the election office as on Tuesday. According to District Collector P.B. Noohu, who is also the Returning Officer, the postal ballots will be accepted till 8 a.m. on Thursday and those received after that will be treated as invalid.
Service votes were received through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System. Of the 4,156 service votes in the district, only 2,601 had been received so far, Mr. Noohu said.
Assembly segment-wise
He said the counting would be held Assembly segment-wise and each segment would have 14 tables, besides a separate table for the Assistant Returning Officer. The first round of counting will be completed with the counting of votes in one booth on all the 14 tables and the lead position would be announced with the completion of each round of counting.
The Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha segment spread across seven Assembly segments of Aranmula, Thiruvalla, Konni, Ranni, Adoor in Pathanamthitta district and the Kanjirappally and Poonjar Assembly segments in Kottayam district.
The Collector said it would take 13 rounds for completion of the counting process in the Poonjar and Kanjirappally Assembly segments, while it would take 18 rounds to complete the counting of votes in the Aranmula segment depending on the total number of polling booths in each constituency.
1,200 employees
Mr. Noohu said as many as 1,200 employees had been posted at the counting centre and all of them had been directed to report at 5.30 a.m. As many as 500 agents of different political parties too would be permitted at the counting centre. Each candidate can depute 15 persons as their agents at the counting centre.
Mobile phones are not allowed at the counting centre and arrangements have been made to keep the mobile phones of employees on duty in safe custody.
LCD display
Mr. Noohu said special LCD display system had been arranged outside the Kendriya Vidyalaya for the public to know the lead position.