Guwahati: Preparations for the counting of votes on Tuesday, June 4, for the recently held Lok Sabha elections in two parliamentary constituencies of Manipur, are underway in full swing.
All necessary arrangements as prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) are well in place. A three-layer security cordon will be enforced at all the counting centres on the counting day and entry of unauthorised persons will be restricted.
However, authorised media persons with valid passes and counting agents will be allowed access to the counting centres, Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur Pradeep Kumar Jha said in a statement.
Counting of votes will be taken up at 24 centres across 11 district headquarters – Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Chandel, Ukhrul, Senapati, Kangpokpi, Tamenglong, Churachandpur and Jiribam in as many as 50 counting halls, it said.
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A total of five counting halls have been earmarked for counting postal ballots and Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) at the headquarters of the returning officers of the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency and the Outer Manipur (ST) parliamentary constituency, it added.
The remaining 45 halls will be used to count the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs). As many as 25 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI who will be arriving in the state before the date fixed for counting, it said.
An engineer from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has been assigned to each counting hall where counting of the EVMs will be done. The counting of votes will commence at 8 am in all the counting halls, it added.
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Authorised counting agents of candidates are informed to reach the counting centres well in time to participate in the opening of strong rooms as notified by the respective returning officer or assistant returning officer, it said.
Training of the returning officers, assistant returning officers and counting officials including the micro observers has already been completed. The counting process in the counting halls will be under CCTV surveillance and videography coverage, it added.
Each round of counting will be updated through the ‘Encore’ application which will be available for public access through the voter turnout mobile application as well as the results.eci.gov.in website, it further said.