District Election Officer and Collector Pamela Satpathy instructs to discharge duties in a transparent manner without giving scope for mistakes
Postal ballots would be counted first at 8 am. Officials told to arrive on time and warned of serious action for dereliction of their duties
KARIMNAGAR, MAY 27, 2024: District Election Officer and Collector Pamela Satpathy has informed the officials deputed for the counting of votes to discharge their duties in a transparent manner without giving scope for committing mistakes.
The Collector was participating in a training programme for the counting staff including counting supervisors and counting assistants at the Collectorate in Karimnagar town on Monday. Several government officials were involved in the counting of votes, which would be held at SRR Government Arts and Science college in Karimnagar town on June 4. The counting of all the seven assembly segments of Karimnagar parliament constituency would be conducted at the SRR college.
She explained the guidelines to be followed while counting of votes polled in the seven Assembly segments of Karimnagar, Manakondur, Choppadandi, Husnabad, Huzurabad, Vemulawada and Sircilla. Instructing the officials to report for duty at the counting centre by 7 am on the counting day, the Collector said that the counting would begin with postal votes from 8 am, followed by electronically registered votes in ballot units.
Later, based on draw, five voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs) would be taken up for counting and cross-verified with respective EVMs in each round, she added. There would be 14 tables, each having 42 counting personnel including counting supervisor, micro observer and counting assistant for counting of votes. Mobile phones or any other electronic gadgets will not be allowed into the counting centre.
Counting activities will be videographed and the Returning Officer would announce results for each rounds in consultation with the General Observer. The voting machines from all the polling stations of the constituency have been kept at the SRR college strong rooms under three-tier round the clock security and CCTV surveillance.
The Collector instructed the polling staff to be disciplined and be polite with the polling agents. Any irregularities from the counting staff would not be tolerated and they would be dealt with serious action. She instructed the counting staff to strictly follow the timings. Additional Collector Praful Desai, RDO K Maheshwar, tahsildars and others were also present.
