Kottayam: The verdict by the people of Puthuppally on who should succeed Oommen Chandy as their representative in the Kerala assembly will be out on Friday (September 8). The counting of votes polled in the bypoll held on Tuesday will begin at 8 am at the centre set up at Baselius College, Kottayam.
The result is expected to be out by 10 am. The bypoll, necessitated with the death of Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy who represented the constituency for a record 53 years, saw a fierce campaigning by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and opposition United Democratic Front (UDF). The Congress-led UDF fielded Oommen Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen while the CPM’s young leader Jaick C Thomas is the LDF candidate. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fielded Lijin Lal while in a first in the constituency, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also contested the election with Luke as its candidate. Three independents make the fray complete.
A total of 20 tables have been set for the counting of votes. Of the 20 tables, 14 are meant for counting of votes cast on the EVMs and five are for postal votes. One table has been set for the counting of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) votes.
The process of counting
The counting of votes will begin after the postal votes, service votes and the QR code of the ETPBS votes are handed over to the counting officials. EVM votes will be counted in 13 rounds. Besides this, the slips from five selected- VVPAT machines will be counted on table no. 1.
Counting officials
Each counting table will have one micro observer, one counting supervisor and one counting official. In addition to this, two micro observers will also be present at the counting centre.
One micro observer, one designated-assistant returning officer, one counting supervisor and two counting assistants will be deployed for counting of service and ETPBS votes.
As many as 32 members of the Central Armed Police Forces and a 12-member armed police battalion will be deployed for the security of the counting station.
The votes were polled in 182 booths spread across seven panchayats in the constituency. The votes will be counted in the following order.
1st round – Booths 1 to 14 (Ayarkkunnam panchayath)
2nd round - Booths 15 to 28 ( Ayarkkunnam)
3rd round – Booths 29 to 42 (Akalakkunnam)
4th round – Booths 43 to 56 (Ayarkkunnam, Kooroppada)
5th round – Booths 57 to 70 (Kooroappada, Manarkad)
6th round – Booths 71 to 84 (Manarkad)
7th round – Booths 85 to 98 ( Manarkad, Pampady)
8th round – Booths 99 to 112 (Pampady)
9th round – Booths 113 to 126 (Pampady, Puthuppally)
10th round – Booths 127 to 140 ( Puthuppally)
11th round – Booths 141 to 154 ( Puthuppally, Meenadom)
12th round – Booths 155 to 168 ( Vakathanam)
13th round – Booths 169 to 182 ( Vakathanam)
