CHENNAI: All arrangements are in place for counting of votes on Tuesday for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry, officials said on Monday. Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said 58 observers appointed to monitor the counting process have reached their respective constituencies. The counting will take place as per the Standard Operating Procedure laid down by the ECI, Sahoo said.
Answering queries from reporters at the secretariat, the CEO said a control room has been set up at the secretariat and 12 DROs and other officials have been appointed to receive calls and clarifications from the districts. Responding to queries regarding the counting of postal ballots, the CEO said, as per rules, postal ballots would be counted first and at 8.30pm, the counting of votes polled in EVMs would begin. The number of votes polled via postal ballots would be conveyed to the agents of all political parties immediately after the counting, he said.
In general, there will be 14 counting tables for each Assembly segment. There are three Assembly segments where the number of tables will be more than 14 --- Sholinganallur (30), Palladam (18), and Goundampalayam (20). There will be micro observers for all counting tables. The entire counting process will be video-recorded. About 874 men and 76 women candidates are in the fray for the election to the 39 Lok Sabha segments which recorded a voter turnout of 69.72% in the single-phase poll held in TN on April 19.
1L cops, 40k officials deployed
Nearly 40,000 poll official have been deployed for the counting exercise. About one lakh police personnel will stand guard and 15 companies of personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces are also deployed.
On June 4, the votes polled in the Vilavancode bypoll (Kanyakumari district) will also be counted, and complete results for the LS seats and the lone assembly segment are expected to be fully out by evening.