After the peaceful conduct of high-stakes Jind bypoll on Monday, the Electronic Voting Machines have been sealed and kept in the strong room, said general observer Saurabh Bhagat.
The counting of votes will be held on January 31.
About 75.77 polling percentage was recorded in bypoll to the Jind assembly constituency.
The counting centre has been made in multi-purpose hall of Arjun Stadium, Jind and proper security arrangements have been made there.
In the high-stakes electoral battle, the BJP had fielded Krishan Middha, son of late INLD MLA Hari Chand Middha, Congress’ nominee was sitting MLA from Kaithal, Randeep Surjewala, Jannayak Janta Party’s candidate was Digvijay Chautala, great grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal and the Indian National Lok Dal had fielded Umed Singh Redu.
Returning Officer and Sub Divisional Magistrate, Virender Sehrawat on Tuesday said that adequate security arrangements have been made at the counting centre and security arrangements have been ensured by installing 10 CCTV cameras.
Cameras have been installed at each gate of the strong room. In many circles, the security personnel and personnel of paramilitary have been deployed, who are giving round the clock duty. The entire campus of Arjun Stadium and outside activities are being monitored with the help of cameras, he said.
Sehrawat said that the counting of votes will be done in the presence of general observer Saurabh Bhagat. The electronic voting machines used in the polling have been kept in the strong room and the strong room has been sealed under the supervision of the observer.
Paramilitary personnel are deputed outside the strong room and machines which were used in the work of EVM training were kept in EVM Ware House, he said.
He said that 174 EVMs have been used on 174 booths. VVPAT machines were used for the first time in this bye-election so that the voter could get complete information about his vote.
The returning officer further said that the counting will begin on January 31 at 8 am and 14 tables are being set up for counting, and counting on each table would be carried out by a supervisor and a counting assistant.
He said that the work of counting will be completed in 13 rounds and after the counting of votes, adequate staff duty is being deputed to seal EVM machines and deposit them in the lock room.
The process of counting will be kept completely transparent. To see the complete process of counting, big size LEDs would be installed outside the hall for the media. The counting process will also be available online on the portal of the Election Commission of India. During the counting, nominated agents will be present on behalf of each candidate, Sehrawat said.
He said that entry passes of the agents will be made. He also asked the candidates that they should appoint their counting agents and get their photo identity cards made besides getting completed the police verification process.
Meanwhile, to hear complaints received during the by-election, general observer Saurabh Bhagat held a meeting with various candidates or their representatives, micro observer and presiding officers at the counting center.
The general observer interacted with the candidates or their representatives present in the meeting regarding the complaints received during the voting.
He said that most of the complaints were found to be baseless and the video clippings were also seen to ascertain the realities of the complaints received. About 15 complaints were received in which no truth was found.
He said that the District Administration was fully alert and the polling was held in Jind assembly peacefully.
Some centers also witnessed rift among agents, who were sent out by the officials. There were complaints about huge crowd of voters at some polling stations, he added.