The official results of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala will be out only after 8 p.m. on May 23, said an election official.
Speaking to the media on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena said that there will be 29 counting locations which will include postal ballots and electronic voting machines (EVMs).
"At some locations both postal and EVMs ballots will be counted. Counting will first be taken up at 8.30 a.m. at locations with postal ballot counters, followed by the ones with EVMs, said Meena.
"On account of new rules in counting, in every constituency around 6 VVPAT machines have to be counted. This will be taken up only after the entire EVMs and postal ballots are counted. We expect counting of these VVPATs in around 6 hours and the final results in each of the 20 constituencies could be officially declared after 8 p.m," said Meena.
"If there is a difference between the VVPAT machines and EVMs, the figure of the VVPAT will be taken," said Meena, adding that around 70,000 votes will have to be counted.
"There will be 14 rounds of counting in each constituency and in those locations that have postal ballot counting centers, after the 12th round of counting EVMs, the 13th round will start only after all the postal ballots are counted," added Meena.
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On security arrangements, he said these counting locations will be under three layers of security cover.
He pointed out that all arrangements are ready for re-polling to be held in seven polling booths in Kasargode and Kannur Lok Sabha constituencies which will begin at 7 a.m tomorrow and end at 6 p.m.
--IANS
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