KOCHI: The Ernakulam district administration has completed all preparations for the counting of votes in the local body elections. Counting will begin at 8 am on Saturday. A total of 28 counting centres have been arranged to tabulate votes from 2,200 wards across 111 local bodies in the district.
Counting will begin with postal ballots, followed by votes recorded in the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Postal ballots for the district panchayat will be counted at the Spark Hall in the Collectorate, while those for other local bodies will be counted at their respective centres. Winners will be issued certificates immediately after results are confirmed, an official release said here.
Voting machines, kept under tight security, will be moved to the counting halls only shortly before the process begins. Officials expect to announce the complete results by noon. Around 6,000 personnel have been deployed across the district for the exercise.
As each booth’s votes are counted, the results will be uploaded to the State Election Commission’s official website. Media centres have been set up at all counting locations to ensure real-time dissemination of results.
A central media hub has also been arranged in the Planning Hall at the Collectorate to compile and share district-wide updates, the release said. The government has scheduled newly elected councils to be sworn in on December 21. Administrative committees of panchayats and municipalities will assume office at 10am, followed by corporation councils at 11am.