The counting of votes polled in the Assembly elections will begin in the district at 8 a.m. on Sunday, adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines, District Collector Navjot Khosa said on Saturday.
The counting will start with the postal ballots at 8 a.m., followed by the counting of votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) at 8.30 a.m. The initial trends will be available by 10 a.m.
The strong rooms will be opened at 6 a.m. in the presence of the observers appointed by the Election Commission of India. Each round of counting will be carried out in 21 tables in three halls (seven tables each) in each counting centre. The counting is expected to be completed in 15-16 rounds, the Collector said.
There will be separate tables for counting the postal ballots. A total of 500 postal ballots will be counted on a table in each round. The final two rounds of EVM votes will be counted only after the postal ballots are fully counted. The winner will be announced after the counting of slips in five of the VVPAT machines. The machines will be selected by a draw of lots.
The votes polled in ten Assembly segments in the district will be counted at the following centres at Mar Ivanios Vidya Nagar, Nalanchira: silver jubilee auditorium of the Sarvodaya ICSE School (Varkala segment); St Peter's block of Sarvodaya ICSE School (Attingal); Mar Ivanios College Auditorium (Chirayinkeezhu); St John's HSS (Nedumangad); third floor of the main building of Mar Ivanios College (Vamanapuram); third floor of the Mar Gregorios College of Law (Aruvikkara); Sarvodaya CBSE School (Parassala); Mar Baselios College of Engineering (Kattakada); Mar Theophilus Training College (Kovalam); ground floor, Mar Gregorios College of Law (Neyyattinkara).
The counting centres for the other four constituencies are, Loyola School, Sreekaryam (Kazhakuttam); St Mary's School, Pattom (Vattiyoorkavu); Manacaud Government Girls HSS (Thiruvananthapuram); Government GHSS, Cotton Hill (Nemom).
Victory celebrations, at the counting centres and other parts of the district are prohibited, given the COVID-19 celebrations, the Collector said. People should not leave their residences unless it is absolutely essential, she said.