It is now the ‘tables’ that matter in the count of votes! According to the sources, Palamau administration had sought approval for 22 tables for the counting of votes on December 23. However, the Election Commission did not accord its approval.
Confirming this, the Palamau district election officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner KN Jha said there would be now 18 tables for the counting of votes of the Daltonganj Assembly constituency. He conceded that the ECI did not accord approval of any increase in the number of tables for Daltonganj Assembly seat votes. Jha said there would be 17 tables for Bishrampur assembly seat while 14 each for the three remaining assembly constituencies like Panki, Hussainabad and Chhatarpur.
Sources said in this Assembly election the EC has sharpened its razors against officers in this commissionary. The Garhwa DC was shown the exit by the ECI. The Hussainabad SDO in Palamau who was the returning officer for the Hssainabad Assembly constituency was midway pulled out from there. The Chainpur BDO in Palamau was also thrown out by the ECI. Manish Ranjan IAS has been steering clearing the election counting work in Garhwa as its district election officer where there are just two Assembly constituencies.
Jha expressed hope that first trend of lead or trail may start coming in by 9 am on December 23. Security in and around the counting centre has been further beefed up as sources said the DC Jha and the SP Palamau Patel Mayur K lal have made umpteen visits/inspections of the counting centres.