Uttarakhand Contest
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 30 May: With the rest of the country, counting of votes for the Parliamentary elections will be held in Uttarakhand on 4 June. Polling on all the five Lok Sabha constituencies was held in Uttarakhand on 19 April during the first phase of the election. While the results of 4 constituencies out of 5, namely, Tehri, Haridwar, Nainital and Almora are likely to be declared between 1 and 2 p.m. on 4 June, the result for the remaining constituency of Pauri may take some more time.
The preparations for the counting of votes are in the final stages in the state. For this, an action plan is also being prepared. In this connection, the officials of the Election Commission of India spoke to Chief Electoral Officer of Uttarakhand, Dr BVRC Purushottam and some other senior officers, today, via video conferencing. The officials of the Election Commission praised the officials of the state for the successful and smooth organisation of the polling process on 19 April. No untoward incident was reported during the polling process in Uttarakhand. The officials of the Election Commission of India also expressed happiness at the preparations in Uttarakhand during the voting. Apart from this, they also praised the Uttarakhand Police for ensuring law and order in an efficient way during the elections.
In the zonal meeting of the Election Commission of India (ECI), along with praising the management of Uttarakhand elections, the action plan for the upcoming counting was also discussed. State Chief Electoral Officer Dr BVRCC Purushottam informed the ECI said that, this time, except for Pauri Lok Sabha seat, the counting process will be completed on the remaining four seats between 1 to 2 p.m. At the same time, the target has been set to complete the counting of votes in Pauri district between 4 and 5 p.m. The reason cited for possible delay in completing the counting process in Pauri constituency is the large number of postal ballots. It may be recalled that postal ballots are counted before the counting of votes cast through the EVMs and in the constituencies that have a large number of postal ballots, it takes time to begin and complete the EVM vote count.
Purushottam shared that the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections to be held on 4 June will start at 8 a.m. In the beginning, postal ballots will be counted in the presence of the polling and counting agents of all the candidates in every constituency. Pauri has received the maximum number of postal ballots. Around 1 lakh postal ballots were received in the state, while the final polling percentage through the EVMs in Uttarakhand was reported to be 58 percent.
Chief Electoral Officer Dr BVRCC Purushottam added that the necessary counting arrangements have been ensured and are in place. For this, reviews have also been held with officials in all districts. To complete the counting in a transparent manner, the counting centres have been kept under three security circles. A total of 884 counting tables have been set up in the state.
