SHILLONG, MAR 1/-/ All necessary arrangements have been made in respect of votes counting tomorrow in Meghalaya. There are 13 counting centres across the state, 12 in all district capitals, one in Sohra Subdivision, according to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
Twenty-two CAPF companies have been retained for purposes of ensuring 24x 7 safeguard protocols in respect of the strong rooms containing the polled EVMs of 3419 polling stations in the 59 poll going Assembly Constituencies and will stay on till 4/4/23 for any post-poll contingencies / exigencies.
There will be 3 tier security arrangements with CAPF guarding the innermost layer and State Armed police will keep vigil of the 2nd & 3rd tier.
The counting centres are all placed under CCTV and Web cast surveillance during the entire period.
There will be a total of 383 rounds of counting, with a maximum of 9 rounds for the biggest AC Mawlai in East Khasi Hills District & 4 rounds for smaller ACs like Dalu in West Garo Hills District
The counting in all 13 centres will commence at 8 am and counting will initially begin with Postal ballot Count for the first 30 minutes followed by counting of polled votes in the EVM Control Units
The CEO accompanied by DEO & SP has already personally inspected the Counting arrangements at the East Khasi Hills Counting Centre at Polo grounds, Shillong, which has the States maximum number of 14 Counting Halls, 1 each for each AC. West Garo Hills District Counting Centre caters to 11 assembly constituencies and is the second largest counting centre in the state.
ECI has deployed 27 Counting Observers & over 500 micro-observers will also assist the Counting Observers at each table.
Each table will be equipped with a Counting Observer assisted by 4 Counting Assistants.
In 7 polling stations, there were cases of non-deletion of mock poll data ,1 PS, in East Jaintia Hills, Khliehriat AC, 1 in West Khasi Hills, Rambhai AC, 2 in East Garo hills, Songsak AC, 2 in South West Garo Hills, Salmanpara ACs and 1 in Mylliem AC. In the above polling stations, DEOs & ROs have been directed to strictly follow ECI protocols on counting.
Also post counting of EVMs, 5 polling stations will be selected at random through draw of lots and manual counting of 5 randomly selected EVMs will be undertaken as per ECI protocols
Additionally, concerned DEOs have issued necessary orders pertaining to traffic arrangements and victory processions post counting in respect of their concerned districts.