Telangana municipal vote counting to begin from 8 am on Friday under tight security

The Telangana State Election Commission has announced that counting of votes from the municipal elections will begin at 8 am on Friday at designated centres. Security has been tightened, with Section 163 of the BNSS in force around counting halls.

Hyderabad: Counting of votes from the municipal elections held on Wednesday will commence at 8 am on Friday at designated counting centres.

In a press release here on Thursday, the State Election Commission said counting supervisors and assistants were appointed for the exercise. Section 163 of the BNSS would be in force in and around the counting centres.

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Adequate security arrangements have been made to maintain peace and order. Only counting supervisors, counting assistants, candidates, their election agents and counting agents would be permitted inside the counting hall. Entry would be strictly regulated through valid passes.

Mobile phones and electronic gadgets were prohibited inside the counting halls, it said. The Commission said webcasting arrangements have been made at all counting centres and outside strong rooms to ensure transparency.

The counting will begin with postal ballots. After their completion, regular ballot papers will be taken up. Ballot boxes of each ward will be brought one by one to the counting table.

Ballot papers of each polling station will be bundled in sets of 25. If the remaining ballots are fewer than 25, they will be made into a separate bundle and labelled with the count. Details will be recorded, and the bundles of all polling stations of a ward will be placed in a drum and thoroughly mixed.

Incomplete bundles, fewer than 25 ballots, will be combined to form full bundles and added to the drum. Any remaining ballots, fewer than 25, will be kept separately with a slip indicating their number, the Commission said.

The same procedure will be repeated ward by ward. After mixing, detailed scrutiny will begin. In each round, 1,000 ballots, comprising 40 bundles of 25 ballots each, will be randomly drawn from the drum and sent to each counting table.