Bargarh: While preparations are in the final stage for the counting of votes, political analysts as well as the people of Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district are eagerly waiting for the results which will be announced in the afternoon on Wednesday.
The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines have been kept under tight security at the Anchal College in Padmapur where counting of votes would begin at 8 AM.
Three-tier security has been put in place at the counting centre with the deployment of Odisha Special Armed Police (OSAP) force, Odisha Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Besides, metal detector has been placed in front the central hall to check the officials before entering the hall.
Counting of votes would be done on 14 tables. There will be a total of 21 rounds of counting. After the first-round counting, the results will be sent to the center table. From the center table, the results would be sent to the information centre. The information centre then will pass on the results to the media about the voting trend and the party leading in the first-round counting. For this, arrangements have been made to open an information centre for the media.
It is expected that the overall voting trend would be known by 12 PM.
According to political analysts, the outcome of the Bijepur bypoll would be an acid test for the ruling BJD as well as the BJP and the Congress to assert their popularity in the state ahead of the general elections and Assembly elections in 2019.
