Tamil Nadu Election Results 2021 Live Updates: All set for counting of votes

Six feet of social distancing norms will be maintained in the counting hall, seating arrangement of counting personnel/agents.

Chennai police conducted a mock drill at the four counting centres in the city on Saturday with police commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal monitoring security arrangements for the assembly election vote counting on Sunday. The city’s counting centres are Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Anna University and Madras Christian College. More than 3,000 city police personnel will be on guard to avoid any untoward incidents in the centres. Surveillance cameras have been installed at vantage points in and around the centres and their feed will be monitored by a special team of police.

Smarting at being lambasted by Madras high court which observed that Election Commission “should be put up on murder charges” for failure to maintain Covid protocol during election campaigns, the commission has moved the Supreme Court against HC for making derogatory remarks against the poll watchdog. The commission submitted observations made by the high court were “uncalled for, blatantly disparaging and derogatory”. It said the HC should not have passed such remarks against a constitutional body, reflecting its sense the remarks were over the top and lacked a sense of proportion.

The Election Commission of India has made elaborate arrangements to announce the early trends and the final results of assembly elections in the Union territory of Puducherry and four states besides byelections, said Puducherry district collector and district election officer Purva Garg. The commission will update the round-wise trends of each constituency every few minutes and announce the results on its website https://results.eci.gov.inand through the mobile application 'Voter Helpline’.

Counting of votes of assembly elections will start at 8am on Sunday and leads in the first round would be available by 9am. The counting of 4.57 crore votes cast in the April 6 elections will happen in 75 halls across the state. At the University College of Engineering in Nagercoil counting for Kanyakumari LS bypoll will take place. The counting will start with postal ballots of voters aged over 80 years and persons with disabilities and Covid infection. Service votes will be counted separately. “Half-an-hour later, the counting of EVMs will begin. Every 30 minutes, one round will be completed. The results can also be known from www.results.eci.gov.in or www.elections.tn.gov.in.,” said an official.

Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Saturday reviewed counting arrangements with senior officers of the commission and the CEOs of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and Puducherry in a virtual meeting. An official release said Chandra directed that all counting halls must be fully Covid-19 guidelines compliant.

The Congress on Saturday decided that it will not participate in election debates on television on Sunday when the results for assembly polls for five states are out. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in view of the serious coronavirus situation in the country, the party's spokespersons will not participate in the TV debates after poll results are out. The results for assembly elections in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala would be declared on May 2. "At a time when Nation is facing an unprecedented crisis, when the Govt under PM Modi has collapsed, we find it unacceptable to not hold them accountable and instead discuss election wins and losses. We @INCIndia have decided to withdraw our spokespersons from election debates," he said on Twitter.

Ahead of the announcement of the results of the assembly polls in four states and a union territory, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday asked its workers to strictly follow the Election Commission guidelines prohibiting the victory procession after the counting of votes amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. "India is suffering from a dangerous phase of COVID-19. Lakhs of people are getting infected. The central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working hard to help fellow Indians and to defeat the second wave of coronavirus," a letter issued by BJP general secretary Arun Singh read.

The Election Commission of India has made elaborate arrangements to announce the early trends and the final results of assembly elections in the Union territory of Puducherry and four states besides byelections, said Puducherry district collector and district election officer Purva Garg. The commission will update the round-wise trends of each constituency every few minutes and announce the results on its website results.eci.gov.in and through the mobile application 'Voter Helpline’. The counting of votes in Puducherry will commence at 8am on Sunday -- at three centres in the Puducherry region covering 23 assembly constituencies, a centre at Karaikal covering five constituencies and a centre for Mahe and Yanam each covering one constituency each. READ FULL STORY HERE

DMK leader M K Stalin on Friday called upon his party district secretaries and candidates to remain vigilant until the results of the assembly polls are announced. Appreciating functionaries and candidates for their intensified campaigns during electioneering, Stalin, addressing them through video conferencing, said that they should refrain from public celebrations. READ FULL STORY HERE

The counting is set to be held in the midst of a raging pandemic and political parties are not taking any chances. They had sent more of their cadres to undergo RTPCR tests as a backup. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made Covid-19 negative reports mandatory for the officials (on election duty) and agents to enter the counting centres. The authorities have conducted exclusive camps to conduct RT PCR tests for the agents and journalists in the last three to four days. READ FULL STORY HERE

The state police are taking all steps to ensure Sunday’s counting for the April 6 assembly election is smooth, deploying one lakh personnel including 20,000 in Chennai alone. On Friday, Chennai police commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal and Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner Prakash visited the counting centres at Queen Mary’s College, Loyola College, Anna University and Madras Christian College where the EVMs of 19 assembly constituencies are kept and inspected the arrangements. READ FULL STORY

The AIADMK on Friday dismissed the exit poll results of various media houses that predicted a sweep for the opposition DMK in the assembly election held on April 6. AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami said they were confident that the party would maintain its winning streak and return to power for the third time in a row. READ FULL STORY

All arrangements have been made for counting of votes in Tamil Nadu assembly polls which are the first such polls to be held in the absence of two towering leaders of the state and former chief ministers J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. The fate of 3,998 candidates was sealed during polling on April 6. The state has 234 constituencies. While ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) made a determined bid to retain power, the DMK-led alliance campaigned hard to oust it. DMK has been out of power since 2011. Makkal Needhi Maiam has also made efforts to put up a strong fight. Several other parties were also in the fray.

The counting of votes for 234 assembly seats will begin at 8am. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made Covid-19 negative reports mandatory for the officials (on election duty) and agents to enter the counting centres. The authorities have conducted exclusive camps to conduct RT PCR tests for the agents and journalists in the last three to four days. For each assembly constituency, there would be 14 to 20 tables depending upon the number of voters. The seating arrangements for counting agents will be made in such a way that between two agents, one will be in PPE.