The district administration is all set for counting of votes of the Lok Sabha election, on May 16.
District Collector M G Rajamanickam said that arrangements have been made at Maharaja’s College here, the venue of counting of votes of Ernakulam Parliamentary constituency. The counting of Chalakudy constituency will be held at Bharat Mata College, Thrikkakara, and St Paul’s College, Kalamassery, respectively. The postal votes of the two constituencies will be counted at Maharaja’s.
The Collector said the number of tables will be proportionate to the number of booths. Fourteen tables each have been set up for counting of votes of Paravoor, Kochi, and Thrikkakkara Assembly constituencies, 12 for Ernakulam and 10 each for Kalamassery and Tripunithura. However, the maximum number of tables will be 15.
The votes of Kaippamangalam, Chalakudy and Kodungallur constituencies will be counted at Bharat Matha and the votes of Perumbavoor, Angamaly, Aluva and Kunnathunadu will be at counted at St Paul’s.
Meanwhile, the Collector said that five observers to monitor the counting procedures would arrive on Monday. Block Development Officers - P R Vijayakumar, Siju Thomas, K G Babu, M Mararkunju, Naserkhan and Seythu Muhammad have been appointed as liaison officers to the observers. Assistant Collector S Suhas will coordinate with the liaison officers. The application forms for identity card for candidates’ agents will be distributed on Monday. The filled-in forms can be submitted at the office of deputy returning officers till 5 pm on Monday, either to the candidate or the counting agent.
The candidate can deploy four agents each to count postal votes of Ernakulam and Chalakkudy constituencies.
There is no separate box at the collectorate to receive postal votes. The postal votes should be sent to the District Collector, also the returning officer, by May 15 evening. 1,342 postal votes have been sanctioned in Ernakulam and 1,369 votes in Chalakudy constituency.