Jind assembly by-poll: Counting of votes to begin at 8 am on Thursday

The counting of votes polled in Jind bye-election held on January 28 will be done on Thursday at the multi-purpose hall of Arjun Stadium, Jind, for which proper security arrangements have been made.

Returning Officer (RO) and Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Virender Sehrawat said that adequate security arrangements have been made at the counting centre and security arrangements have been ensured by installing 10 CCTV cameras.

"Cameras have been installed at each gate of the strong room. In many circles, the security personnel and personnel of paramilitary have been deployed, who are giving round the clock duty. The entire campus of Arjun Stadium and outside activities are being monitored with the help of cameras, he was quoted, as saying in an official statement.

RO said that the counting will begin on January 31 at 8 am and 14 tables are being set up for counting, and counting on each table would be carried out by a supervisor and a counting assistant. He said that the work of counting will be completed in 13 rounds and after the counting of votes, adequate staff duty is being deputed to seal EVM machines and deposit them in the locked room.

Sehrawat said that the counting of votes will be done in the presence of General Observer Saurabh Bhagat. The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the polling have been kept in the strong room and the strong room has been sealed under the supervision of the observer. Paramilitary personnel are deputed outside the strong room and machines which were used in the work of EVM training were kept in EVM Ware House.

Over 75.77 per cent voting was recorded in Jind by-poll, where the key contenders were Digvijay Singh Chautala of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), Randeep Singh Surjewala of Congress, also a sitting MLA from Kaithal, BJP's Krishan Midha, and INLD's Umed Singh Redhu. The by-poll was necessitated following the death of INLD MLA Hari Chan Midha, father of Krishna Midha.