The fate of 143 candidates who contested the elections in 11 constituencies in Mysuru district that concluded on May 10, will be known on Saturday as the counting of votes will take place at Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management on Valmiki Road here. By noon, the election results are expected to be known with vote counting of 11 segments scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.
The counting centre has turned into a fortress with a three-layer security. Armed personnel are guarding the premises where the EVM and VVPAT machines have been kept in the sealed strong rooms. The counting centre is accessible to only authorised persons having valid ID cards including counting staff, officials and mediapersons.
The counting centre will be out of bounds for the public on Saturday with the entry to Valmiki Road in Paduvarahalli to be barricaded by the police.
The winning candidates have been barred from taking out processions.
Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer K.V. Rajendra, accompanied by senior officials, inspected the counting centre and reviewed the arrangements done.
The counting of votes of all 11 constituencies will be done simultaneously at the centre and the initial trends on counting are expected around 10 a.m. Constituency-wise counting halls have been established on the four floors of the centre and the strong rooms will be opened for shifting EVMs and VVPATs to the counting halls in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner, candidates or their representatives and officials.
As many as 3,478 ballot units, 3,022 VVPATs and 2,938 control units were used in the elections in 11 constituencies – Varuna, Chamundeshwari, Krishnaraja, Chamaraja, Narasimharaja, Hunsur, Nanjangud, Periyapatna, K.R. Nagar, H D Kote and T.Narsipur.
Mysuru district recorded a voting percentage of 75.12, including 75.91 percent voting by men, 74.34 by women and 21.68 by others. Out of 26,55,984 registered voters, 19,95,101 cast their votes.
For each constituency, 14 counting tables will be available and each counting table will have a counting micro-observer, a counting supervisor, and a counting assistant, and each hall will have two counting micro-observers. In total, there will be 209 counting micro-observers,169 counting supervisors, and 187 counting assistants. Forty tables will be available for the counting of postal ballots. All put together, including the staff in reserve, 725 counting staff have been appointed.
The counting staff were explained about the counting process with a demonstration at the centre on Friday.
The votes in the VVPAT machines will be counted in case of any indecision in the count. The staff will be inside the barricaded area while the agents and candidates can see the process from outside the secured area.
The entire counting process from start till the end will be videographed and all halls have been equipped with CCTV surveillance. A media centre has been established for the journalists reporting the counting process.
After the completion of every round of counting, the respective returning officer of the constituency will be announcing the number of votes polled by each candidate.
In view of counting, ban orders under Section 144 CrPc have been imposed across the district from the midnight of May 12 to the midnight of May 13.
