THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In 24 hours, the counting of votes for the Assembly elections will be on. It starts at 8 am on Thursday at 80 centres across the state and the final tally will be out by 12 noon. The official website will run constituency-wise leads after each round of counting.
Already, exit polls have indicated that the trend is in favour of the Opposition Left Democratic Front, but ruling UDF leaders still believe the front will get the majority to rule.
Counting of votes polled in the assembly elections on Monday will be begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday at 80 centres across the state. Counting of all the 140 constituencies will be carried out simultaneously and the trends would be available within an hour on the website ‘www.ceo.kerala.gov.in’. The final results would be out before 12 noon.
Election officials said postal votes would be counted at the table of the returning officer initially. Counting of votes polled on electronic voting machines (EVMs) will begin only 30 minutes after the counting of postal votes begins. Fourteen tables will be set in each centre for counting votes polled on EVMs so that EVMs of 14 booths could be counted simultaneously.
For instance, in a constituency with 140 booths, there would be ten rounds of counting – 14 booths in each round. In each round, each table will take up all EVMs used in a booth. Normally there will be only one EVM for a booth. However, in the case of any technical snag to EVM during the poll, another stand-by EVM will be used and hence there are chances of more than one EVM in many booths.
EVMs will be taken up for counting as per the serial number of the booth. The returning officer will monitor the counting. Candidates can appoint one agent for each table. Lead status of the each constituency will be updated on the website after each round.
