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Elections: Counting on Thursday

      New Delhi: The counting of votes for the assembly elections held in four states-- Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and in the Union Territory of Pondicherry and by-polls to the high profile Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli, will be held amidst tight security on Thursday. The results will also be declared the same day. Counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. (IST) at hundreds of heavily guarded centres all the four states and the Union Territory, which underwent the assembly polls. Central para military forces will assist the state police in maintaining vigil. Three-tier security arrangements have been made at all counting centers in West Bengal to prevent entry of unauthorised persons. The state police will patrol the outermost ring, while the Central Paramilitary forces will guard the two inner rings. At 97 counting centres across the state, 60 companies of central forces are being deployed in addition to 20 companies already guarding strong rooms where electronic voting machines are kept.

    In Tamil Nadu, 284 special observers have been put on charge to monitor the counting process at the centres spread all over in 60 towns in the State. Special arrangements have been made at the media centre at the Secretariat for announcement of results of all the 234 constituencies of the State. According to official source, while the first trends in West Bengal will be available from 10 a.m. (IST), in Pondicherry, it will be available an hour earlier that is at 9 a.m. Tight security has been provided at the Bharatidasan College where counting would take place for 21 constituencies out of the 30 Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. Elaborate security arrangements have also been made at the nine counting centres located in Karaikal where counting will take place for six constituencies, Mahe (two constituencies) and Yanam (one). The fate of 997 contestants in the fray for 126 seats in Assam will also be known tomorrow when counting takes place under tight security at the counting centres. Also, tight security has been provided at venues of counting in Kerala. The counting of votes is expected to be very fast in view of electronic voting machines having been used. Moreover, for accurate counting of votes the returning officer will prepare a statement after each round of counting, which will be verified by the election observer. The results of every round will be immediately displayed on a notice board and announced on a public address system. After the final list is compiled, the observer will compare it with the round-wise break-up.