Dev inspects arrangements for counting of votes

Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev today visited counting centres of two parliamentary seats in the national capital to take stock of the arrangements for the counting of votes of Lok Sabha polls scheduled on May 16,
Dev visited the strong rooms at N P Bengali Girls Senior Secondary School in Gole Market in New Delhi Parliamentary seat and Integrated Institute of Technology located in Dwaraka sector-9 respectively.
Counting in all 7 Lok Sabha seats in the national capital will start at 8 am on May 16.
"Postal ballots would be counted first. After a gap of 30 minutes, the EVMs would be opened. Assistant Returning officers (AROs) will oversee the postal ballot countings," said Dev.

As per the Election Commission regulations, there will be 10 micro observers deployed in each parliamentary seat and an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) will be deployed in each counting table.
Mobile phones and other electronic gadgets have been banned at the counting premises, but election officials can use laptop or other devices to transmit results.

Barring the counting supervisors, micro observers and persons authorized by the Election Commission, no one else would be allowed to enter the counting centres. The media will also be barred from entering the counting centres.
The entire counting process would be videographed, he added.

Dev was accompanied by the concerned Returning Officers as he inspected the strong rooms and all the arrangements designed for the counting day. He will be visiting other centres tomorrow and day after.
Over 20,000 EVMs, which hold the fate of 150 candidates in Lok Sabha polls, have been kept under high security in strong rooms at seven centres across the city.
"Two layers of security cover have been deployed for the safety of EVMs at all centres. While personnel of paramilitary force form the inner circle of security, Delhi police are ensuring their safety from outside," said Dev.
Delhi registered its highest voter turnout of 65.09 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls on April 10.