Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): A meeting of representatives of recognised political parties was held on Wednesday at the administrative complex building regarding the management of the counting of votes to be held on December 3 at the Government Engineering College (UEC).
Presiding over the meeting, collector and district returning officer (DRO) Kumar Purushottam said there will be independent observers for every assembly constituency. There will also be micro observers, who will report to the observer from time to time.
For the appointment of a counting agent, political parties will have to submit applications on form 18 to the concerned RO by 5 pm three days before the date of counting. Once the counting starts, no new counting agent can be appointed.
The counting agents will be allowed to carry the photocopy of form 17-C supplied by the presiding officer and required plain paper, notepad, pen and pencil in the counting room. No one will be allowed to enter or exit the room without the permission of the RO. Counting agents will be given entry based on identity cards only.
DRO said that on the counting day, counting agents of political parties should reach the venue at the scheduled time. The counting of votes will start at 8 am. Counting of ballot papers cast through postal ballots will begin first. On December 2, postal ballots will be shifted from the strong room of the treasury to the strong room of the UEC. It was informed in the meeting that strong rooms for the postal ballot have been made assembly constituency-wise.
The representatives were also told in detail about the assembly constituency-wise number of ROs and AROs, the number of officers and employees required for counting of votes, the voting done so far through postal ballots, cycle-wise counting and the number of tables installed for counting of votes. They were also informed about the plan made for counting of votes. SP Sachin Sharma, DDRO MS Kavache and other officials were present at the meeting.
Cong takes objection
The seal of strong room of Tarana constituency was found wet at UEC on Wednesday. The deployed security personnel informed about this incident and the returning officer called Congress candidate Mahesh Parmar and explained the reason. Due to the moisture, the seal installed became wet hence an additional seal is being installed.
Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Vivek Gupta said an additional seal was put on Tarana strong room by the election officer. On this, Parmar has expressed apprehension that the strong room is far away from the counting room.
Putting extra seal citing rain as the reason for moisture is raising a question mark on the election staff. When Gupta discussed with the DRO on phone, he clarified the action was taken after receiving information from the CAPF jawan deployed at UEC.
