Counting of votes will be free and fair, assures Mangaldai Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner of Darrang, Ghanshyam Dass

Our Correspondent

MANGALDAI: “The counting of votes for 8 Mangaldai HPC will be carried out strictly as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make it completely free and fair,” said Returning Officer for No. 8 Mangaldai HPC and the Deputy Commissioner of Darrang, Ghanshyam Dass while addressing a press meet on Tuesday morning.

Accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioners Kulen Sarma and Kalpana Deka, Election Officer Kartik Kalita and DIPRO Manimala Gogoi, he informed that counting would be done in Mangaldai College campus for four assembly segments under Darrang Election District for which four counting halls, one for each assembly segment, and an additional hall for the counting of postal ballots and electronic postal ballots, had been arranged. Each counting hall will have a total of 15 counting tables, including an additional table. Out of the four assembly segments, 67 Mangaldai (SC) LAC with a maximum of 292 polling stations will require the maximum of 21 counting rounds.

The counting will begin from 8 am, first with the postal ballots, followed by the EVMs and then the VVPAT slips. Even though the counting of the votes in the EVMs is expected to wind up by 3 pm, an extra time of around five hours will be required for counting of the 20 randomly selected VVPAT machines-five each from one assembly constituency. Returning Officer Dass also mentioned about the three- tier security arrangement inside the counting centre at Mangaldai College and restrictions of taking mobile phone, camera and other electronic devices barring some special cases under ECI instructions. He assured the media persons of developing an effective mechanism for quick sharing of results immediately after every round of counting under the supervision of the District Information Officer.

Speaking on the occasion, Kulen Sarma Additional Deputy Commissioner in charge of the election branch, said that necessary training of all the 984 counting officials had already been done successfully from May 9 to May 20 in several phases.

The Mangaldai HPC consists of 10 assembly segments scattered in four different districts, namely Darrang, Udalguri, Kamrup (rural) and Nalbari. On the day of counting on Thursday, the political fate of 11 candidates will be decided. Among the contesting candidates, a straight tough political fight between BJP’s Dilip Saikia and INC’s Bhabaneswar Kalita is very much on the cards.

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