With poll results to be announced on Friday, the Chandigarh Election department and political parties have geared up for the D-day of 16th lok Sabha elections.
Chandigarh Election department has made elaborate arrangements for counting of votes for the lok Sabha polls on May 16. The counting of votes will be held at Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET).
The counting will begin at 8 am and the result will be officially declared by around 5 pm.
For smooth conduct of voting process, the Chandigarh Election Department has deputed as many as 200 staff on duty. A total of 28 tables have been set up where the counting will be done in 19 rounds. And, each counting table will have a micro-observer. The number of votes polled to each candidate will be announced after each round.
The UT Election department will also install a screen, displaying all information related to vote count at the CCET.
There were a total 519 polling booths during the elections across the city where 4,53,314 voters turned up to exercise their franchise. Chandigarh recorded the highest ever voter turnout of 73.84 per cent during the polls held on April 10.
The fair sex had outshined men in voting in Chandigarh. At least 74.15 per cent women electors out of total 281046 registered voters had turned up for polling while 73.57 male voters out of 332,882 registered had exercised their franchise on the polling day.
Among the key candidates in the ballot fight are Congress candidate and sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, BJP’s Kirron Kher, Aam Aadmi Party’s Gul Panag and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Jannat Jahan. Of 17 candidates, eight in the poll fray are Independent candidates.
Online voting results
The website of Chandigarh Election Department will display the counting of votes. The counting of votes would be updated on the website of Chandigarh Election department after the end of every round. Earlier, the Election department through its website had given status of queues at polling stations through queue monitoring system during the polling day.
SMS services
The city residents can get firsthand and authentic information on counting by sending an SMS on 9216164606. Send SMS ‘REG’ to +91 9216164606 and get updates on counting of votes on Friday. Earlier on the day of voting, the Election department had launched an SMS service through which the voters could know about their polling booth and status of queues, by just sending an SMS.
BJP plans celebrations
Confident of its victory in Chandigarh and at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned festivities on the big day. A senior BJP leader said that the party workers have already made preparations for celebrations which will include fireworks and sweets. The party will show live election coverage through projector at party office Kamlam, Sector 33 here at 9 am. The party’s candidate Kirron Kher will also reach BJP’s office after the elections results become clear.
Riding high on the exit polls, the BJP is confident to record a victory on Chandigarh’s seat after more than a decade. Chandigarh BJP has also prepared a document elaborating the road-map laid by party city unit to support party’s candidate during the polls. If the party wins, the eight pages document on its poll campaigning will be released by BJP on Friday. The BJP leader said, “The party is confident of its victory and will celebrate it in a big way. A victory rally is also planned across the city after the results are declared.”
On the other hand, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers would watch the poll results at their respective party offices and will wait for the final results. The Congress and AAP candidate are likely to watch poll results at their home and might visit their respective party offices later.