Counting of votes in the seven lok Sabha constituencies of the national Capital would begin at 8 am on Friday under the direct supervision of Chief Electoral Office (CEO) of Delhi to decide the fate of 150 candidates. Elaborate arrangements have been made and security tightened at the seven centres, housing over 20,000 EVMs, to ensure peaceful counting of votes in the national Capital. A three-layered security cover has been put in place at the counting centres across the city. Counting of postal ballot will start at 8 am. The first half-an-hour is dedicated to postal ballot while counting from EVMs will start at 8.30 am.
Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev stated that while a platoon of paramilitary force forms the inner circle of security inside each of the counting centres, Delhi Police is ensuring their safety from outside. Number of policemen outside each building has also been increased on Thursday and personnel from the Reserve Forces of the Delhi Police will be on standby to manage the party workers outside the counting centres.
Each counting centre will have 10 rooms for each Assembly constituency. Delhi has a total of seven parliamentary constituencies. “Postal ballots would be counted first. After a gap of 30 minutes, the EVMs would be opened. Assistant Returning officers (AROs) will oversee the postal ballot counting. As per the Election Commission regulations, there will be 10 micro observers deployed in each parliamentary seat and an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) will be deployed in each counting table,” Vijay Dev said. According to Dev,
over 20,000 security personnel have been deputed on EVMs security.Delhi registered a high voter turnout of 65.09 per cent in the lok Sabha polls held on April 10.