The State Election Commissioner, K.K Sharma on Sunday said that arrangements are in place for the counting of votes in all the 280 District Development Council (DDC) Constituencies. The counting will begin at 9 AM on December 22 (Tuesday) simultaneously in all the districts. The SEC was chairing a meeting to review the preparations and other arrangements with regard to the counting process. The meeting was attended by Secretary State Election Commissioner, and other senior officers of the Commission. The SEC has appealed to all the political parties and contesting candidates to extend their full cooperation to all the counting staff during the counting process and added that Returning Officers will be incharge of the counting process for each DDC Constituency. “The entire counting exercise will be monitored and recorded to achieve full transparency,” he said. Elaborating on the counting guidelines, the SEC said counting of ballot papers shall be taken on a round-wise basis after proper mixing of the ballot papers of different polling stations as per prescribed procedure and counting guidelines. The Commission has issued detailed guidelines under the Panchayati Raj Rules 1996 and prescribed elaborate procedure on the counting of ballot papers. The handbook of returning officers also contains the relevant instructions on counting of votes. The SEC said that all the arrangements are put in place with regard to counting halls and the requisite staff. While discussing necessary protocols required to be implemented for COVID-19, the SEC said that directions have already been issued to concerned DCs to adhere to COVID-19 SOPS during the counting process.
