All set for counting of votes in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Jun 3 (PTI) All arrangements are in place for counting of votes on June 4 for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, officials said on Monday.


Vote counting at the 39 counting centres spread across the state will begin at 8 am. Postal ballots shall be taken up first, after which the votes cast in EVMs would be taken up by 8.30 am.

Nearly 40,000 personnel have been deployed for the exercise.



As many as 950 candidates are in the fray in the 39 Lok Sabha segments in the state, which had a voter turnout of 69.72 per cent in the April 19 single-phase election in Tamil Nadu.



About one lakh police personnel will stand guard and 15 companies of personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces are also deployed.



The votes polled in South Chennai will be counted at Anna University, while the premises of Queen Mary's and Loyola colleges will be used for counting of votes cast in the North and Central Chennai constituencies respectively.



On June 4, the votes polled in the Vilavancode bypoll (Kanyakumari district) will also be counted, and complete results for the LS seats and the lone assembly segment are expected to be fully out by evening.



According to several exit polls, in Tamil Nadu the ruling DMK and its allies are poised for a big win in most constituencies. The principal opposition AIADMK is expected to put up a tough fight in seats like Erode. Similarly, the BJP and its allies are said to have an edge in segments like Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Dharmapuri.



The INDIA bloc constituents, including the DMK, have already urged the Election Commission to first count the postal votes and then take up counting of votes recorded in EVMs.



Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has held meetings with District Election Officers to review the preparedness for vote counting, declaration of results, security and all other necessary arrangements.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)