Strict protocols for vote count on June 4: Sirsa DEO

Sirsa, May 29

District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner RK Singh on Wednesday gave instructions that only authorised personnel would be allowed to enter the counting hall during the vote counting process on June 4. To ensure that unauthorised individuals did not enter, identification cards had been made mandatory.

Additionally, to prevent any errors at any stage of vote counting and to ensure that the machines for the second round were brought to the table only after the first round results were clear, the entire counting process would be recorded on video. The results of each round would be announced by the respective Assembly Returning Officer (ARO).

The District Election Officer was addressing a training programme for counting teams at the local Panchayat Bhawan auditorium on Wednesday. He stated that the counting teams included the counting superviser, counting assistant and micro observer. He also mentioned that police verification would be conducted for all officials and staff entering the counting hall. The results of each round would be displayed on a board.

He instructed that a chart should be placed on each table, indicating the machine to be used in each round, so that the counting agents were aware of which machine was coming next, thereby increasing transparency in the counting process.

He also stressed that the staff bringing the EVMs from the strongroom must be fully competent. It was important to ensure that the machines were sent only to their designated tables. Similarly, after counting the votes, the EVMs should be sealed and immediately returned to the strongroom. Singh said all parties’ counting agents would be provided with paper and pencils in the counting hall. Bringing any items from outside would not be allowed. No employee or agent would be permitted to carry mobile phones with them. According to the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, no one would be allowed to videotape the EVMs during the counting process.

Singh also mentioned that the Election Commission of India had appointed Dev Krishna Tiwari as the Counting Observer for the Dabwali and Sirsa Assembly constituencies. Similarly, Biplab Das had been appointed for the Kalanwali and Ellenabad Assembly constituencies and Yogendra Kumar for the Rania Assembly constituency. He added that Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr Vivek Bharti had been appointed as the nodal officer for all strongrooms to ensure monitoring of CCTV coverage, security arrangements and the safety of EVMs, VVPATs and election documents, in coordination with the ARO concerned and the Duty Magistrate.