Stage set for counting of votes in Telangana’s Munugode

The stage is set for counting of votes polled in by-election to Munugode Assembly seat in Telangana on Sunday.

Hyderabad/Nalgonda: Sunday will be D-Day, not just in Munugode, but across Telangana and beyond too as the result of one of the most fiercely fought elections of recent times comes out.

All arrangements are in place for counting of votes stored in the electronic voting machines, which will begin from 8 am.

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The constituency, which went to the hustings following the resignation of Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy after switched loyalty from the Congress to the BJP, saw 2,25,192 voters out of 2,41,805 enrolled voters exercising their franchise on Thursday, registering a polling percentage of 93.13 percent. This does not include votes received through postal ballot.

According to the Election Commission of India, of the total 739 postal ballots paid for by 80 senior citizens and the disabled, 686 were used. As on Friday, from the 50 postal ballots for Armed Forces (Service Voters), six were received.

For Sunday, the counting centre has been set up at the Telangana State Warehousing Corporation godown in Arjala Bavi of Nalgonda. The strong room containing the polled EVMS (A&B category) will be opened at 7.30 am in the presence of Election Commission observers, contesting candidates or their election agents.

Counting of postal ballots will be done first, for which two tables were set up. Along with this, votes of service voters will also be counted through the Election Commission’s ETPBS software. Counting of EVMs will start from 8.30 am, for which 21 tables have been set up.

Counting of votes from 298 polling stations will be done in 14 rounds in 21 tables (14 full rounds, 294 polling stations) and a 15th round in four tables.

A total of 250 staff will be employed for counting, out of whom 100 personnel will be employed only for counting of votes and 150 personnel for other activities. In addition to counting staff, a counting supervisor, an assistant supervisor and a micro observer will be allocated to each table.

The results of the first round of counting are expected to be out by 9 am, while the final results may be announced by 2 pm.

The mandal-wise sequence of counting of votes was Choutuppal, Narayanpur, Munugode, Chandur, Marriguda, Nampally and Gattuppal.

District Elections Officer and District Collector T Vinay Krishna Reddy will supervise the counting process, which will decide the fate of 47 candidates who were in the fray, including Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of the TRS, K Rajgopal Reddy of the BJP and Palvai Sravanthi of the Congress.