EVMs used in Mumbai kept in 36 strong rooms; 10k to guard counting centres

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All EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices used in Mumbai during the Maharashtra polls have been stored in strong rooms, one each in the city's 36 constituencies, the civic body said on Thursday.

Elections to the 288-member state assembly were held in a single phase on Wednesday and votes will be counted on Saturday.

About 10,000 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), and local police have been assigned for security arrangements at the counting centres, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release.

These strong rooms are also under constant CCTV surveillance, said the release, quoting civic chief Bhushan Gagrani, who is also the district election officer for Mumbai.

Across Mumbai, over 2,700 officials and staff have been deployed to count votes, which will begin on Saturday at 8 am. Postal votes will counted first followed by votes recorded by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the release said.

The 10 constituencies in Mumbai's island city recorded an average voter turnout of 52.65 per cent, while the figure stood at 56.39 per cent for the remaining 26 seats in the suburbs, as per the release.

Ahead of vote counting, the Mumbai police have prohibited any assembly of people in the 300-metre radius of all the 36 counting centres in the city. The order is effective from 6 am on November 21 till midnight on November 24, the police said.