All set for counting in Hyderabad district

HYDERABAD: The counting of votes for the Secunderabad and Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituencies, as well as the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly byelection in Hyderabad district, is scheduled to start at 8 am on June 4. The counting will be conducted Assembly segment-wise at different locations in a decentralised manner within the district.

Approximately 1,200 staff members have been deployed across 15 counting centres in the city, with elaborate three-layered security arrangements in place. The Yakutpura Assembly constituency will have the highest number of EVM counting rounds, followed by Karwan (23 rounds), Malakpet (22 rounds), and Musheerabad and Nampally (20 rounds each). The lowest number of EVM counting rounds will take place in the Assembly segments of Charminar (15 rounds) and Secunderabad (16 rounds). Amberpet, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar, Goshamahal, and Secunderabad Cantonment will each have 17 rounds of counting.

The postal ballots will be counted at separate halls set up at Exhibition Grounds (Nampally), PGRRCDE (Osmania University) and CSIIT (Wesley College Grounds, Secunderabad).

District Electoral Officer D Ronald Rose, who visited the counting centre at Nizam College, Basheerbagh on Saturday, told reporters that Assistant Returning Officers will oversee the counting at each centre. He mentioned that 14 out of 15 counting centres have 14 tables each for vote counting, with Jubilee Hills having 20 tables due to the larger hall size. Full results are expected by 3 pm.

Returning officers for the Lok Sabha constituencies will be stationed at the counting centres where postal ballot counting will take place. The returning officer for Hyderabad PC will be at the Charminar Assembly Segment counting centre at Kamala Nehru Polytechnic College for Women, Exhibition Ground Nampally. The returning officer for Secunderabad PC will be at the Secunderabad Assembly segment counting centre at Prof G Ram Reddy Center for Distance Education (PGRRCDE), Osmania University. The returning officer for the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency will be at CSIIT, Wesley College Grounds, Secunderabad.

Special cabins have been set up in counting centres to count VVPAT slips. After the initial counting of EVM votes, slips from five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly segment will be counted and tallied with the EVM counts.

Ronald Rose stated that the counting staff will be randomised on June 4 between 5.30 am and 6 am in the presence of the election observer and will be allocated table-wise. The Election Commission of India has assigned one observer to each Assembly segment. Each counting table will have a counting supervisor, counting assistant and micro-observer with two micro-observers at the observer table. The strongrooms will be opened on the morning of June 4 in the presence of agents from political parties. The counting of postal ballots will commence first at 8 am, followed by the counting of EVM votes from 8.30 am.