Counting of votes for LS, Assembly seats to be held in 36

A three-tier security cordon, with Central Armed Police Force personnel in the innermost perimeter, would maintain vigil at 36 centres in Andhra Pradesh where counting of votes for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats will be taken up Thursday.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC have been clamped in 16 towns across the state where the centres are located.

In all 35 companies of CAPF, including CRPF and CISF, with 3,325 personnel are being deployed for security duty.

According to officials, 61 companies of AP Special Police (5,490 personnel) and over 15,000 state police personnel will also be on duty to prevent untoward incidents as results of the April 11 general election will be declared.

State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi told reporters 2.11 lakh postal ballots and 28,000 service votes have been received, which would be counted first at 8 am when the process begins.

He said 25,000 well-trained personnel would take part in the vote counting process across the state.

Dwivedi said five VVPATs each would be chosen separately for Assembly and Lok Sabha segments for random counting of slips.

"Counting of VVPATs is only for verification. If any EVM is stuck, the corresponding VVPAT slips should be counted," he added.

Director General of Police R P Thakur said prohibitory orders under the Police Act have been promulgated near all counting centres and important places to regulate processions and assembly of persons.

The DGP said 1200 body-worn cameras, 68 drones and 14,770 CCTV cameras were being used to closely monitor the counting process as well as people.

"We have also opened control rooms at the state police headquarters and district police headquarters with surveillance cameras to keep a tab on all developments and ensure law and order," Thakur added.