All arrangements in place for counting of votes in Tirunelveli

Government Engineering College prepares for seamless vote counting in Tirunelveli Parliamentary constituency with strict security measures in place.

All arrangements have been put in place at Government Engineering College here for the seamless counting of votes polled in Tirunelveli Parliamentary constituency, which recorded the poll percentage of 64.10 in the election held on April 19.

 District Collector and Returning Officer K.P. Karthikeyan, General Observer Sonali, Tirunelveli City Police Commissioner Pa. Moorthy and Tirunelveli Corporation Commissioner Shubham Thakare Dnayandeorao visited the counting centre on Monday to review the preparations made in the Government Engineering College for smooth counting of votes. They also inspected the online second randomization of counting officials.

 The candidates and their agents can enter the counting centre via the entrance on the Reddiyarpatti Road after parking their vehicles at the nearby ground. Mobile phones and smart watches will not allowed inside the counting centre.

 Though 23 candidates were in the fray, the main contestants were C. Robert Bruce of Indian National Congress, M. Jancy Rani of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Nainar Nagenthran of Bharatiya Janata Party and P. Sathya of Naam Thamizhar Katchi. Of these four candidates, the keen contest is between Mr. Robert Bruce and Mr. Nainar Nagenthiran.

 A total of 10,60,461 voters including 5,13,441 men, 5,46,963 women, 57 others polled their votes in 1,810 polling booths including 331 sensitive polling stations across Tirunelveli Parliamentary constituency. CCTV cameras were fitted in 1,175 sensitive and vulnerable polling booths to monitor from the District Collectorate the polling between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on April 19.  3,434 senior citizens above the age of 80 and physically challenged voters had used postal voting facility, which were delivered at their doorstep.

 Of the six Assembly constituencies in Tirunelveli Parliamentary segment, Alangulam Assembly segment, housing beedi rollers and farmhands posted the highest polling percentage with 73.10, which was followed by Ambasamudram (65.55%), Radhapuram (65.41%), Nanguneri (62.51%), Tirunelveli (62.28%) and the ‘highly literate and affluent’ Palayamkottai (56.62%).

 The EVMs used in the polling were brought to Tirunelveli Government Engineering College, the counting centre, to be kept in the CCTV-fitted strong rooms. The police have made 3-tier security arrangement in the counting centre, where floodlights have been installed and watch towers erected to check the movement of strangers around this sensitive zone.