EC to set up 27 centres in Rajasthan for counting of votes on June 4

Jaipur, May 15 – After the successful completion of two phases of Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, the Election Commission (EC) is all set for counting of votes that will be done on June 4 and has directed setting up of 27 counting centres in the desert state, said officials on Wednesday.

The counting of votes will be done for all Lok Sabha constituencies as well as for the Bagidora Assembly bye-election, said Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta.

He further said that work will start at 8 am and in the first round postal votes will be counted, followed by EVMs at 8.30 am.

Before the counting of postal ballots begins, the authorized agent will brief the candidates about the process and later the votes received by each candidate will be announced.

CEO Gupta also reviewed preparations with District Election Officers on Tuesday via video conferencing and discussed the necessary guidelines regarding the place and process of counting.

Gupta asked all the District Election Officers to ensure that the guidelines given by the EC were followed and gave instructions regarding preparation of the venue, security arrangements inside and outside the venue, counting team, EVM and postal ballot counting, videography during the process and other arrangements.

He said that strong arrangements should be made for the security of EVMs and counting process should be completely transparent.

He said that as per the provisions of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the District Magistrate, there will be a ban on victory processions, celebratory firing, use of DJs, rally etc after the counting of votes is done.

He also said that mobile phones were completely banned and no agent or candidate would be able to go inside the centre with a mobile phone.