On counting day,centres in Mohali,Ropar to be ‘fortified’

Speaking with Newsline,Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jatinder Singh Aulakh said a 200-metre area surrounding the counting centres will be sealed from 6 am. Only counting staffers,candidates,their counting agents and authorised journalists will be allowed to move within the sealed area,added the SSP.

Apart from the 90 personnel of Punjab Armed Police (PAP) stationed on round-the-clock duty outside the counting centre here since Wednesday night,another 310 Punjab Police personnel will fortify the entire area on the day of counting.

Fourteen tables each have been placed for counting of votes of the Mohali and Kharar Assembly segments at the Shivalik Public School,Phase VI,Mohali.

While Government College in Ropar is the counting centre for Ropar,Anandpur Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib Assembly segments,two private colleges in Nawanshahr will host the counting of votes for Nawanshahr,Balachaur,Banga and Garhshankar Assembly segments.

When counting process in all nine segments is over,the results will be forwarded to Ropar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti,who as Returning Officer will make a final compilation before formally declaring the results.

Apart from a counting supervisor of Executive Engineer rank and an assistant counting supervisor of SDO rank,each table will also have a counting agent of every candidate.

Having 170 EVMs each,the Mohali and Kharar segments will have 12 regular rounds of counting,besides an additional round,to compute the booth-wise votes secured by each candidate.

Live updates on computerised screen
For live update on the counting status,computerised screens will be installed across all counting centres. Earlier,blackboards were used to display the status after every round of counting.

Who will be victorious?
Even as 14 candidates are vying for the Anandpur Sahib seat,the contest is expected to boil down to a direct face-off between Ravneet Singh Bittu of the Congress and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema of the SAD.