Lucknow. The counting of votes for 403 seats in the state began at 8 am on Thursday, after a nearly two-month-long exercise for the politically important Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. State Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said that the counting of votes for the state assembly elections started at 8 am in all 75 districts of the state.
One Nation One Election is a good suggestion but this needs a change in the Constitution. The Election Commission is fully geared up and is capable of holding all the elections simultaneously. We are ready to hold elections only once in 5 years: CEC Sushil Chandra pic.twitter.com/reixPOoqIl
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2022
First of all, the postal ballots are being counted. After that the votes cast in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be counted. He said that for the counting of votes, a total of 84 centers have been set up in all the districts of the state. Of these, five counting centers have been set up in Agra, two each in Amethi, Ambedkar Nagar, Deoria, Meerut and Azamgarh and one each in the rest of the districts.
31,000 new polling booths were created for the Assembly polls. We created 1,900 polling booths that were run by women & large women participation was seen due to this. In 4 out of 5 states, the percentage of female voters were higher than that of male voters: CEC Sushil Chandra pic.twitter.com/wh4snqQkJC
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2022
Shukla said that one counting observer has been deployed in each assembly constituency. Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Dr Ranveer Singh has been posted in Meerut and Bihar Chief Electoral Officer HR Srinivas has been posted in Varanasi to supervise the counting of votes. There will be a complete ban on any kind of victory procession or rally. Sanitizers, masks, gloves and thermal scanners have been arranged at the counting site to follow the COVID-19 protocol.
Counting of votes begin for Assembly elections in five States including Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/i27mN8EoIv
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2022
Voting for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections was conducted in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The results of the election will decide whether the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) creates a record by forming its government for the second time in a row, or the Samajwadi Party (SP) returns to power after five years, or the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Or any other party or coalition reaches the top of power, surprising everyone.
A senior official of the Election Commission said that counting of VVPAT slips of five machines in each assembly constituency will also be done. Video cameras and static cameras have also been installed at the counting centres. In addition, media centers have also been set up at every centre. Adequate number of Assistant Presiding Officers have been deployed in each assembly constituency so that the counting of votes can be completed smoothly. Three-tier security has been ensured at all the counting centers, the official said. This includes Central Police Force, PAC and State Police Force.
According to official sources, 250 companies of Central Armed Police Force have been deployed at all the counting centres. Of these, 36 companies have been deployed for the security of EVMs while 214 have been given the responsibility of maintaining law and order during the counting of votes. A total of 61 Company PAC forces have also been deployed during the counting of votes.
Apart from this, 625 gazetted officers of Uttar Pradesh Police, 1,807 inspectors, 9,598 darogas, 11,627 head constables and 48,649 constables have been deployed for security during the counting of votes. A post-poll survey shown by various news channels after the seventh and final phase of polling last Monday claimed the BJP to form the government once again in Uttar Pradesh. However, the possibility of increasing the number of SP seats in them has also been expressed. Apart from this, BSP has been projected to be reduced to double digits and Congress will get less than 10 seats.