All Set for Council Poll Counting in Dharwad, Kalaburagi on Tuesday

Counting of votes for the Karnataka Legislative Council elections to the West Graduates’ and North-East Teachers’ constituencies will be held on Tuesday, with the officials making arrangements at counting centres in Dharwad and Kalaburagi respectively.

The counting will begin at 8 am at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad for the West Graduates’ constituency and at Bhaskar Hall in the Mathematics Department of Gulbarga University for the North-East Teachers’ constituency.

Both constituencies went to the polls on October 23. While the North-East Teachers’ constituency recorded a turnout of 86.97 per cent, the West Graduates’ constituency registered 75.66 per cent.

In Dharwad, Belagavi Regional Commissioner and Returning Officer KM Janaki said 14 tables have been arranged for counting. Each table would have a counting supervisor and two assistants. The personnel deployed for the exercise have undergone three rounds of training.

Of the 97,400 registered voters in the West Graduates’ constituency, 73,692 exercised their franchise. The constituency covers Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Uttara Kannada districts.

Haveri recorded the highest turnout at 78.71 per cent, followed by Gadag at 77.70 per cent, Uttara Kannada at 76.52 per cent and Dharwad at 71.87 per cent.

Following polling, the sealed ballot boxes and election-related documents were shifted to a strongroom. A three-tier security arrangement has been made, with 212 police officers and personnel deployed at the strongroom and counting centre.

The Dharwad Deputy Commissioner has issued prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) around the counting centre. The sale, consumption and transportation of liquor have also been prohibited across Dharwad district from 4 pm on October 26 until midnight on October 27.

In Kalaburagi, Regional Commissioner and Returning Officer Zaheera Naseem inspected the counting arrangements at Gulbarga University on Monday.

She said 14 tables had been arranged, with a district-level officer and two assistants assigned to each table. The counting personnel have undergone two rounds of training.

The North-East Teachers’ constituency, which covers seven districts, recorded 30,250 votes out of an electorate of 34,784. There are 13 candidates in the fray.

She said the strongroom would be opened at 8 am in the presence of candidates or their election agents and the election observer. The Deputy Commissioners of all seven districts would be present during counting, with each supervising two tables.

Explaining the counting process, she said ballot papers from 144 ballot boxes would first be arranged into bundles of 25 and mixed randomly before being distributed among the counting tables.

The first-preference votes would be counted in three rounds. If a candidate secured the required quota of valid votes, the candidate would be declared elected. Otherwise, counting would proceed to subsequent preferences, with candidates securing the lowest votes eliminated in stages and their transferable votes distributed among the remaining candidates until the required quota was reached.

Zaheera Naseem said adequate police security had been arranged at the counting centre. Mobile phones, matchboxes, lighters, fountain pens, tobacco products and water bottles would not be permitted inside.

Private vehicles would also be restricted from entering the Gulbarga University campus on Tuesday, except those of candidates and journalists. A holiday has been declared for staff working in the Mathematics Department building and those associated with the strongroom.