The announcement of election results on May 13 might get delayed a bit as the election commission has instructed officials to commence counting of every round only after completely declaring the previous round results of all the tables.
In the previous elections, the results of the votes counted on every table used to be announced randomly.
Chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar on Sunday said the counting of votes would take a little more time as election officials would have to ensure the accuracy of the counted votes after every round.
Depending on the number of voters and contestants, the counting tables, where the EVMs will be placed for counting, would vary from 8-14 for every constituency.
At an all-party meeting in the city, Mr Praveen Kumar sought the cooperation of all political parties to ensure peaceful and fair counting.
He said counting of postal votes would begin at 8 am and if it does not conclude before 8.30 am, the counting of EVM votes would start right away and the results of the postal votes announced only before the last two rounds of announcement of final results.
He accepted the DMK’s request on this count. Meanwhile, the state police have made elaborate plans to ensure that counting is incident-free. Sensitive areas have been identified and will be under the scanner.
“Already, 27 companies are guarding the counting centres and strong rooms,” said ADGP (law and order) K. Radhakrishnan.
Gearing up for May 13
WHAT’s NEW: Result of every round of counting will be announced only after completely declaring the previous round result of all tables. Earlier, votes counted on every table were announced in a random manner.
EC gets blueprint ready
l Postal votes will be counted first
l 27 paramilitary companies already guarding the counting centres
l 18 more companies are expected to arrive by Wednesday
l Pedestrians will not be allowed within 100 metres of the
counting centres
l Paramilitary forces will be escorting EVMs from strong rooms to counting centres