Elaborate arrangements made for counting

First results likely from Bangalore South

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements amidst tight security for counting votes to the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state on Saturday. Counting of postal ballots will be taken up first in each of the constituency and the first round of counting will be completed by 9 am. The first result is expected to be announced by 11.30 am and all results by 1.30 pm, M N Vidyashankar, state chief electoral officer said.

Briefing reporters on the arrangements made for the counting of votes, he said, “Results from each Parliamentary constituency will be announced after the completion of 15 rounds of counting. In all, there will be 501 rounds of counting covering 28 constituencies.”

Counting of votes for Bangalore South will be held at the SSMRV college in Jayanagar, for Bangalore Central at Mount Carmel College in the heart of the city near the Bangalore Palace and for Bangalore North at UVCE and Government Arts College. Counting for other constituencies will be held in the respective district headquarters, he said.

“We have arranged 3,316 tables in 367 halls across the city and district headquarters for counting from 47,578 electronic voting machines (EVMs) that have recorded votes from 43,642 polling stations,” Vidyashankar said.

About 23,000 officials would be involved in the counting of votes across the state, with 3,172 micro observers supervising the process.

“About 43,000 men from the state reserved police and paramilitary forces are being deployed to maintain law and order in and around the counting centres. Prohibitory order banning assembly of more than five persons will be in force under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) within 2-km radius of the counting centres,” Vidyasankhar added.

In addition to the ban on sale of liquor till Saturday night, the police have banned carrying of arms, making provocative speeches, bursting of crackers and organising victory processions within 2-km of the counting centres to ensure peace and harmony, he said.

In Karnataka, polling was held in 17 constituencies on April 23 and 11 constituencies on April 30. In all, 427 candidates, including 29 women and 260 independents are in the fray from 28 constituencies.

With the three parliamentary seats in India’s IT hub - Bangalore South, Bangalore Central and Bangalore North — polling an average of 45.49 per cent, which is the lowest across the state, election authorities said results would be earlier than those from other constituencies.

The high-profile Bangalore South constituency registered 44.73 per cent, lowest in the entire state, while Bangalore Central polled 45.25 per cent and Bangalore North 46.48 per cent.

The average polling percentage in the first phase was 54.6 per cent and 65 per cent in the final phase. The average polling percentage in both the phases was 58.48 as against 64.99 per cent in the 2004 general elections.

Meanwhile, state information director N R Vishukumar said facilities have been arranged to transmit the results on real-time basis using unique software with global access on www.karnatakaelections2009.gov.in

“We will be relaying the data, including figures after every round of counting from each Lok Sabha constituency and the final result on real-time basis, with updates every minute from different constituencies,” Vishukumar said.