Fate of 1,616 candidates to be decided in Odisha tomorrow

The fate of as many as 1,616 candidates contesting in the twin elections for Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha, will be decided tomorrow as the Election Commission made all required arrangements for counting of votes.
The counting of votes would be held amid tight security for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats, which went to the polls in Odisha in two phases on April 10 and 17.
Official sources said the counting will be taken up at 64 polling centres across the state at 8 AM tomorrow.
"The counting of votes will start with counting of postal ballots," an official said.

Later, counting will begin for Lok Sabha and Assembly seats at 8.30 AM under the supervision of observers nominated by the EC. Around 12,000 officials would be there for the counting, they said adding about 172 platoons of security personnel would be deployed for counting.