Raipur: All preparations for the counting of votes scheduled on December 3, after the voting in two phases for 90 assembly constituencies under Chhattisgarh Assembly Election-2023 amid tight security is in place. Mock trials were conducted in the district headquarters in all 33 district headquarters.
Chief Electoral Officer, Chhattisgarh Reena Babasaheb Kangale said that 14 tables have been installed for each assembly constituency for the counting of votes to be done under the supervision of observers in all the counting centres.
Vote counting to commence at 8 am
Counting of votes will start at 8 am in which the votes of service voters will be counted first. First of all, the QR code of votes received from ETPBS (Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System) will be scanned. After that the counting of postal ballots will begin. Counting of votes will begin simultaneously on all tables after 8:30, she said.
Out of the 90 assembly seats in the state, counting of votes will take place in maximum 30 cycles in Kawardha. After this there will be 29 cycles in Kasdol. At the same time, counting of votes will be done in 12 cycles at least in Manendragarh and Bhilai Nagar.
Kangale said that during the counting of votes in the counting centres three-tier security arrangements have been put in place. No person will be allowed to enter the counting room without an authorization letter.
She said, 90 returning officers, 416 assistant returning officers, 4596 enumerators and 1698 micro observers have been appointed in 90 assembly constituencies for counting of votes. 90 counting observers have been appointed by the Election Commission of India. Counting of votes recorded in EVM will start 30 minutes after counting of postal ballot papers. There will be a ban on carrying phones in the counting hall.
The political fate of 1181 candidates was decided in EVMs on November 7th and 17th. During the counting of votes, candidates will be able to observe the counting of votes by going to any table, whereas the agents of the candidates will observe the counting of votes only at the designated table. The entire process of counting of votes will take place in the presence and supervision of the counting observer and the general observer.
During this period, at the end of each round, any two control units will be checked on a random basis in the presence of the candidate or his agent and under the supervision of an observer.
Verification of votes using VVPAT
Apart from it, after the counting of all the rounds is completed, the votes will be verified by selecting five Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) through a draw.
Recording of the entire vote counting process will also be kept. Except the observer and the returning officer, no one will be allowed to take mobile phones into the counting room. Apart from this, no other person will be able to carry other electronic devices like iPad, recorder, video camera etc.
