Arrangements complete for counting today

The fate of 435 candidates who were in the fray for the by-elections will be decided on Friday when the counting of votes takes place.

The authorities made elaborate arrangements for counting at seven centres spread over five districts. Mobile phones would not be allowed inside the centres.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) I.V. Subba Rao said arrangements have been made for recording the entire counting process. Strong rooms where the ballot boxes and Electronic Voting  Machines have been  kept are under tight security. With polling agents keeping a strict vigil, the authorities have installed Close Circuit TVs to monitor the situation.

The counting will start at 8 a.m. and the first result is likely to be announced by 11 a.m.In five segments, ballot papers were used for polling. So the results would continue to pour in till 6 p.m.  Results from seven constituencies, where EVMs were used, are likely to be announced before noon.

As there were no complaints of rigging or malpractices, no re-polling was required in any polling booth.

The by-elections were necessitated by the resignations of 10 Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) legislators and one each of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on the issue of separate Telangana state early this year.