Bhubaneswar: The counting of votes for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Odisha will begin at 8 am on Tuesday.
To keep incidents of post-poll violence in check, the Election Commission will be deploying additional 70 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the state till June 6.
Already 25 CAPF companies have been strategically positioned at EVM strong rooms and counting centres set up in different districts. The decision to step up security arrangements was taken after the state witnessed sporadic incidents of post-poll violence from multiple places after completion of the last phase voting during which 74.41 per cent of voters exercised their franchise. Ten Congress supporters were injured in an alleged attack by BJD workers at Basudevpur in Bhadrak district soon after polling ended on June 1 evening.
A two-tier security arrangement has been put in place at each sealed strong room. While the first layer include a platoon of CAPF personnel, another platoon of the State Armed Police (SAP) Force has also been mobilised outside the building. Periphery of the campus is guarded by District Police, as per local assessment of the situation and location.
A total of 78 platoons of CAPF and as many of SAP are guarding these rooms. This security arrangement will continue until counting of votes is completed, an official release said.
Besides CAPF and State Armed Police, Commissionerate Police is also keeping a vigil at BJB Autonomous College in the state capital where EVMs of five Assembly segments – Bhubaneswar Central, North, Ekamra, Jayadev and Jatni – have been stored. It is also under is under 24*7 CCTV surveillance.
Notably, a record 185 companies of CAPF were deployed for the four-phase elections – May 13, May 20, May 25, & June 1 – in the state to ensure free, fair and impartial polling.
Three-tire security arrangement has also been made at 168 counting centres – one each for 147 Assembly constituencies and one each for 21 Parliamentary Constituencies – for peaceful and flawless counting of votes.“There is a Postal Ballot Counting Centre located in Ganjam district, where three tier security arrangements is in place similar to other EVM strong room/counting centre. One company of CAPF and 3 platoons of SAP will be deployed exclusively for maintaining law & order during and after counting of votes. In addition to this arrangement, district police will also be deployed in adequate numbers as per requirement.”
District SSP have been directed to mobilise adequate number of police and para police personnel at counting centres.
VOTE COUNTING
The counting trends and results, as per data entered by RO/ARO for AC/PC, will be available on the ECI Website at the URL https://results.eci.gov.in/ as well as on the Voter Helpline App, both iOS and Android Mobile Apps, the poll body said.
The Voter Helpline App can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple Play Store and use the available filter to find out the winning/leading or trailing candidate details, along with the constituency-wise or state-wise results.
