"27 observers deployed to monitor counting of votes": Uttarakhand Additional Chief Electoral Officer

He said all counting processes will be videographed. Counting of postal ballots will start first at 8:00 am at the RO headquarters and EVM counting will start at 8:30 am. This arrangement will be ensured only at the RO headquarters, where postal ballots come. EVM counting will start at 8:00 am in other districts, stated an official statement.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dr Vijay Jogdande said 884 tables have been made for EVM counting in the entire state. A maximum of 14 tables have been kept for counting in one assembly. There may be different numbers of tables in all the districts. Three personnel will be deployed at each table, comprising a counting supervisor, a counting assistant, and a micro observer.

Apart from this, 120 personnel will also be deployed in reserve. Special officers will be deployed for electricity, drinking water, food and law and order at the counting place. The special magistrate has also been deployed for the counting centre.

The Additional Chief Electoral Officer said that security arrangements have been made in three circles in view of security in the counting centre. State Armed Police Force will be deployed in the second circle and State Police in the third circle. No person will be allowed to take a vehicle beyond the third circle.

As many as 55 candidates across political affiliations pitted themselves in the battle for the Lok Sabha in Uttarakhand, with more than 83 lakh registered voters adjudicating their fates. Uttarakhand went to the polls for all five seats in a single phase on April 19.

The BJP, which recorded a clean sweep in the hill state in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, is bidding for an encore this year, while the Congress is hopeful of reclaiming lost political ground in the state. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)