Bhubaneswar: While the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections is scheduled to begin on May 23, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Monday said that results from 63 assembly segments will pour in earlier than expected with the Election Commission of India (ECI) allowing additional tables for 22 districts.
Notably, the ECI had allowed seven tables each for counting the Lok Sabha and Assembly votes. While other states will have 14 tables for the counting of Lok Sabha votes, there will be only seven tables each for Odisha, thus the delay in announcement of the results.
With the ECI now allowing additional tables for 22 districts, following a request by the CEO, as more space was available at the counting centres, early results can be expected from 63 assembly constituencies. The districts are Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Angul, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Boudh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Koraput.
However, there will be a delay in the announcement of results in the remaining 83 seats in the eight districts of Bargarh, Sonepur, Balasore, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Puri, Nayagarh and Nabarangpur, where the arrangements for the additional tables could not be made due to lack of space at the counting centres.
