All preparations for counting of votes completed

A press conference was held at Nirvachan Sadan, Bhopal on Friday in connection with the preparations for counting of votes of 230 assembly constituencies in the Assembly Elections-2023. Chief Electoral Officer Shri Anupam Rajan said that the counting of votes for all 230 assembly constituencies of the state will start at 8 am on December 3 at 52 district headquarters. All preparations for counting of votes have been completed. All District Election Officers, Police Commissioners and Superintendents of Police have been instructed to strictly follow the security norms in the counting centre. The day of counting has been declared a dry day.

Shri Rajan said that three-tier security arrangements have been ensured at the counting venue. Only authorized pass-holding persons will be able to enter. Separate counting halls have been made for each assembly at the counting centre, where as per the instructions of the Commission, tables have been arranged for counting of postal ballots and EVMs. Randomization of counting personnel will be three-tier. The first randomization has been done. The second level of randomization will take place 24 hours before the start of counting and the third level of randomization will take place at 5 am on the day of counting. Observers have been appointed by the Commission for counting of votes in all the assembly constituencies, who have reached the districts. The second and third randomization will be done in the presence of the observer.

Shri Rajan said that the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer will take action to transfer the postal ballot from the local strong room made for postal ballot to the strong room for postal ballot made in the counting center after 3 pm on December 2, information about which will be given compulsorily to recognized national political parties and candidates and their counting agents. Postal ballots of service electors received by post should be deleivered at the counting center before 8 am. For this, passes have been issued to the nodal officers/postmen of the Postal Department so that the postal ballots received by the Postal Department at night are delivered to the counting center before 8 am in the morning.

Shri Rajan said that a media center has been set-up in a separate room at the counting center for authorized media persons, where facilities like telephone, computer, printer and internet etc. will be available. Authorization letters have been issued by the Commission for media personnel.

Shri Rajan said that there will be a counting supervisor, a counting assistant, a counting staff and a micro observer on the counting table of the EVM. Similarly, there will be one assistant returning officer, one counting supervisor, two counting assistants and one micro observer at the counting table of postal ballot. Officers and employees of central government departments will be the Micro observers.

Shri Rajan said that there will be counting agents of the candidates on the EVM/Postal Ballot table, whose seating order will be (1) recognized national political parties, (2) recognized state parties of other states which are contesting elections for that assembly constituency for which symbol has been assigned, (3) the unrecognized registered party (4) will remain independent.

Shri Rajan said that for the machines to reach the counting hall from the strong room, separate route/path/arrangement has been decided assembly constituency wise, which will have CCTV coverage. Apart from the Election Observer, no one is allowed to take mobile phone into the counting hall. Only Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers and Counting Supervisors who are associated with ETPB will be able to carry mobile for OTP to open the ETPBMS system and after this, they will have to switch off the mobile and deposit it with the Observer, Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer.

Shri Rajan said that the counting of votes will start assembly constituency wise at 8 am at the district headquarters. Counting will start with postal ballots first. Counting of votes from EVM will start at 8:30 am, half an hour after the counting of postal ballots. The result of candidate wise postal ballots will be announced as soon as the counting of postal ballots of the Assembly is over. He said that after the completion of each round, the result of that round will be announced as per the rules and the counting of the second round will begin. The media will also be informed about this in the media centre. For this, the District Public Relations Officer will co-ordinate.

Shri Rajan said that in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023, 51 thousand 259 senior voters above 80 years of age and 12 thousand 93 disabled voters voted from home. Voting was done by one thousand 113 personnel of essential services. Voting was done through postal ballot by 3 lakh 4 thousand 623 polling personnel. EDCs were issued to 21 thousand 197 polling personnel for voting at the polling station itself.

Shri Rajan said that in Madhya Pradesh, 4 thousand 369 tables have been installed for counting of EVMs and 692 tables have been installed for counting of postal votes. For EVM vote counting, the maximum number of 26 rounds will be held in 193-Jhabua assembly constituency and the least number of 12 rounds will be held in 20-Sevdha assembly constituency of Datia district.

Shri Rajan said that arrangements have been made in the districts to display the results of vote counting on screens etc. The results of vote counting will also be displayed on the website of Election Commission of India https://results.eci.gov.in and website of Chief Electoral Officer Madhya Pradesh ceomadhyapradesh.nic.in. Along with this, for the convenience of the general public, the results of vote counting will also be available on the Voter Helpline App. For this, this app will have to be downloaded from Google Play Store. Processions and rallies taken out after counting of votes can be taken out only after obtaining permission from the district administration as per rules.