68 Counting halls ready to count Assembly Election
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the counting of votes for assembly elections 2022 with 68 counting halls in 59 locations throughout the state with duty staff of around ten thousand including the security personnel. Maneesh Garg, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said this here today adding further that apart from the above, a team of returning officers and assistant returning officers have also been deployed to ensure smooth counting process. The first randomization for the entire process was completed on 1st December and the first schedule of training was conducted on 2nd and 3rd December. Besides, the second randomization process was completed on 6th December and the second training process was in progress today, stated the CEO, adding that the 3rd randomization will take place on Thursday before the counting begins. He said that depending upon the availability of the space, a maximum of 14 counting tables and a minimum of 8 counting tables would be available in the counting halls. He said that there will be a separate table for nearly 500 postal ballots. Besides, there will also be separate tables for scanning of electronically transmitted postal ballots linked to computers for counting.
CEO said that the EVMs for the tribal Lahaul Spiti were shifted to Bhuntar in Kullu and the counting for Lahaul Spiti assembly segment will take place at Bhuntar itself. Similarly for the tribal Bharmour assembly segment, the counting will take place in Chamba and for Kinnaur assembly segment the counting will take place in Reckong-peo itself. “We have also held meetings with the representatives of the political parties at State, district and at sub-division levels already and have asked them to depute their counting agents for ensuring transparency” said he, adding that no candidate or any other person will be allowed within a perimeter of 100 meters from the counting centers except those having a valid identity card/pass issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
