Mohali: All preparations complete for counting of votes in Mohali district, DEO

Mohali: To complete the final process of counting of general election votes, all arrangements have been made at the Government Polytechnic located at Khuni Mazra to complete the process in a smooth and transparent manner. The District Election Officer reviewed the arrangements with the officials deployed to prepare for the counting. He said that proper seating arrangements should be made for the teams, agents of candidates and others who will be a part of the counting process. The DEO said that the counting of votes of 278 polling stations of Kharar and 251 booths of SAS Nagar will be done at the Government Polytechnic located at Khuni Mazra. He said that a total of 14 counting tables have been set up for each constituency, where a lot of 14 EVMs will be displayed to show the count of votes of the candidates. He said that 19 teams have been deployed for each counting hall, including five reserve teams. The DEO said that the teams have been asked to report to their AROs at 5 am so that they can be allotted the number of tables to be completed by 6 am. DEO Jain said the counting will be monitored by counting observers as the representative of the Election Commission, so that transparency and efficiency is maintained in the process. They will randomly check the results of any two EVMs after each round of counting, he said. Besides, the numbers of voting slips of the five VVPATs to be finally selected by lottery will also be matched with the result of those particular EVMs, he said. The DEO said tomorrow will be a dry day in the entire district. He said people will be allowed inside the counting hall only if they are issued authorisation letters. DEO Jain said carrying mobile phones or other electronic devices will not be allowed inside the counting hall and media persons can deposit their phones at the media centre to enter the counting hall with their handheld cameras. He said no one will be allowed to record the display of results on EVMs through any recording device, including still cameras. 19 counting teams formed DEO Ashika Jain said 19 have been allotted to each constituency, with 5 reserved for 14 counting tables. Counting of votes for Kharar and SAS Nagar assembly constituencies will be done at Government Polytechnic in Khuni Majra and counting of votes for Dera Bassi assembly constituencies will be done at Punjabi University in Patiala. DEO said that the counting personnel have been trained in the counting process and counting of votes will start at 8 am.