VIJAYAWADA: Elaborate arrangements have been made for counting votes polled in eight urban local bodies (ULBs) in Krishna and NTR districts, with the process scheduled to begin at 8 am on Tuesday. Officials will count postal ballots first, followed by votes polled through regular ballot papers.
A total of 7,07,242 voters exercised their franchise in the municipal elections held on Monday across the eight ULBs in the two districts.
A few hundred postal ballots are also expected to be counted at the beginning of the exercise. The counting is a crucial stage in the elections, with the results expected to indicate voting patterns across the municipal corporations and municipalities.
In Krishna district, officials will count votes polled in three ULBs, Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation, Pedana Municipality and Vuyyuru Municipality. They have arranged 290 counting tables across the three centres and deployed 1,160 personnel. Another 236 personnel are on reserve to meet any additional requirements.
Of the total arrangements, Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation will have 168 counting tables and 811 personnel, while Pedana will have 57 tables and 275 personnel. Vuyyuru Municipality will have 65 tables and 310 counting personnel. Authorities said they had arranged the manpower and infrastructure to ensure smooth counting.
In NTR, officials will count votes polled in five ULBs, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and the municipalities of Jaggayyapet, Kondapalli, Tiruvuru and Nandigama.
Counting in Vijayawada will be held at Andhra Loyola College, with three halls arranged for East, West and Central constituencies. Personnel must report by 6 am. Separate blocks will accommodate each constituency’s ward-wise counting. The VMC has arranged 450 counting tables, with 10 tables for each ward. Of these, five tables will be dedicated to counting votes polled for ward councillor candidates and the remaining five to votes polled for mayoral candidates.
Officials will require two rounds of counting to complete the exercise for each ward. Officials expect to declare results for 44 wards in the first two rounds, followed by those for the remaining wards in the next two rounds.
After completing ward-level counting, they will count the remaining votes polled for mayoral candidates.
Meanwhile, officials have designated three centres in Krishna district for counting: Krishna University for Machilipatnam, Siddhartha Arts and Science College for Vuyyuru, and St Vincent Pallotti High School for Pedana.
Krishna Collector and District Election Officer DK Balaji supervised training for Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers and counting personnel. Officials explained ballot scrutiny, identifying valid and invalid votes, displaying valid votes and bundling counted votes in groups of 25.