Raipur. Counting of votes for Raipur Nagar South by-election will take place on November 23 at the Government Engineering College, Sejbahar. Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale informed that the counting date of the by-election of Assembly Constituency 51-Raipur Nagar South is fixed for Saturday, 23rd November. On the counting date, the counting work will be completed at Government Engineering College, Sejbahar, Raipur (Block-E). 2 Assistant Returning Officers have been appointed for the elections. Apart from this, 4 additional assistant returning officers have been appointed for counting of votes. He said that the counting of votes will begin at 8 am on the counting date, in which counting of postal ballots will begin at 8 am. After the counting of postal ballots starts, the counting of votes from EVM machines will start from 8.30 am.
Chief Electoral Officer Mrs. Kangale said that 14 tables have been installed in the counting hall for counting the votes cast in EVMs. This calculation will be completed in total 19 rounds. One additional table has been arranged for counting postal ballots. Each table of the counting hall will have one counting supervisor, counting assistant and micro observer, who will carry out the work of counting. A data compilation and uploading section has been created in the counting hall itself to maintain the information about vote counting by the returning officer. Candidates or the counting agents of the candidates will also be present in the counting hall, who will be able to observe the counting process by sitting in the chairs outside the fence made in the counting hall.
He said that entry of unauthorized persons into the counting hall will be prohibited. The Returning Officer may, at his discretion, ask any person to leave the counting premises or counting hall and this instruction will be binding. The instructions given by the Returning Officer in the counting hall will be universally accepted. If a dispute arises, the Returning Officer can take legal action. It is prohibited to carry electronic items like mobile, iPad, laptop, smart watch, camera, tobacco, gutkha etc. in the counting hall.
The counting agents will be able to take to the counting hall blank paper, copy of ballot accounting form 17C Part-1, list of EVMs/VVPATs provided by the Returning Officer, which have been used in various polling stations of the Assembly and pen/pencil. . Analogue calculators have been arranged on each table inside the counting hall to total the results of counting. Which can be used by the candidates or their counting agents. There will be three-tier security in the counting complex. Every person will be thoroughly checked by security personnel in each level. It will be mandatory for every person to show his identity card to the security personnel. The cycle-wise information of the vote counting work will be uploaded in the Incore counting application of the Election Commission of India, which the general public can see through the link.
Within 7 days from the announcement of the election results, the burnt memory/microcontroller of maximum 5 percent of the EVMs (BU, CU and VVPAT) of the assembly constituency will be checked by the candidates coming at serial no. 2 and 3 after the candidate who got the maximum votes and Application can be submitted for verification, for which a fee of Rs 40,000 (18 percent GST extra) will be payable per EVM set.