‘All arrangements in place for counting of votes today’

Ludhiana: Punjab chief election officer (CEO) Dr S Karuna Raju on Wednesday stated that counting for 13 parliamentary constituencies in the state would be done at 21 places on May 23, Thursday. He said all arrangements in this regard had been put in place.
The CEO state this while speaking to media persons after inspecting the arrangements at counting centres set up in Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College and Punjab Agricultural University here on Wednesday. He said counting of votes for 13 parliamentary seats of Punjab would start at 8am on Thursday and a three-tier security ring had been created around the counting centres. He ade that there would be no public entry in the counting centres except for candidates, counting staff, polling agents, security personnel, election officers, observers and media persons, who have been issued entry passes. ”No person will be allowed to enter the counting centres without entry passes.”
Raju said , “This time counting of slips (votes) of five random VVPAT machines each of every assembly constituency will be checked manually. No vehicles of member of the public will be allowed 100 metres within the counting centres and prohibition orders of Section 144 of the CrPC have already been put in place in the state. Around 3.5 lakh counting staff has been deputed across Punjab, besides adequate number of security personnel have been deputed to ensure everything goes on peacefully.”
Meanwhile, Ludhiana district election officer-cum-returning officer Pradeep Kumar Agrawal said the district administration had completed all arrangements for the counting. He added that counting of votes for Ludhiana East constituency would be held at the library hall of Government Senior Secondary Smart School, PAU; of Ludhiana South at 2nd floor, examination hall-cum lecture theatre complex, PAU; of Atam Nagar at examination hall near Kisan training centre, PAU; of Ludhiana Central & West at gymnasium hall, PAU; of Ludhiana North at multipurpose hall, Government Senior Secondary Smart School, PAU; of Gill at ground floor, examination hall-cum-theatre complex, opposite the department of vegetable & fruit Science, PAU; of Dakha at Sukhdev Bhawan, dining hall, PAU, and of Jagraon constituency at Dr DS Dev Examination Hall, College of Agriculture, PAU.
Similarly, counting of votes for five Vidhan Sabha constituencies that are part of Fatehgarh Sahib constituency would be held at: Khanna at 2nd floor, GNE Polytechnic College; Samrala at new sports hall complex, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College; of Sahnewal at 2nd floor, examination hall, GNE Polytechnic College, Gill Road; of Payal at 2nd floor, mechanical hall, GNE Polytechnic College; and of Raikot constituency at first floor of GNE Polytechnic College.
Agrawal said a total of 22 candidates were in fray for Ludhiana parliamentary constituency and their fate would be decided by 10,44,823 voters. He added that 17 counting teams each had been deputed for each assembly constituency, whereas reserve teams had also been put on standby. He said each team would have a micro observer, a counting supervisor and an assistant counting supervisor. Special teams have been deputed for counting of postal ballots.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Ludhiana commissioner of police Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, SSP (rural) Varinder Singh Brar, SSP (Khanna) GS Grewal, ADC(G) Iqbal Singh Sandhu, ADC Jagraon Neeru Katyal Gupta, assistant returning officers, besides others.