BHUBANESWAR: Counting of votes in Padampur that will decide the fate of 10 candidates including BJP’s Pradip Purohit, BJD’s Barsha Singh Bariha and Congress’s Satya Bhusan Sahu, will begin on Thursday morning.
Chief electoral officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar Lohani said postal ballots will be counted first after which counting of votes polled in 319 booths will take place. The counting will be done in 23 rounds with 14 tables in each round. Each table will have three persons, one counting supervisor, one counting assistant and a micro observer belonging to the Central government. They will be assisted by adequately trained reserve personnel.
RMC godown at Padampur has been declared the counting centre for the bypoll. Polled EVMs stored in the strong room close to the counting centre will be opened in the morning amid tight security. Postal ballots received from 24 service voters and 272 absentee voters will be counted first after which votes polled in the EVMs will be counted. To handle any technical issue during counting, two ECIL engineers will be available at the counting centre.
“After completion of EVM counting, VVPAT slips of five booths selected randomly will be taken up for counting to cross verify the EVM figures,” the CEO said. He said each candidate will be allowed appoint one agent for each table. The candidate or his/her election agent can also remain present in the counting hall. Lohani said adequate security arrangements have been made in and around the counting centres. Except the returning officer and general observer, nobody is allowed to carry mobile phones inside the counting hall.
Besides, the entire 100 mtr zone will be declared as pedestrian zone. There will be three-tier security consisting of central armed police force, state armed police and local police.