Over 1,600 election staffers deployed at counting centres for Pune’s Lok Sabha seats
Over 1,600 election staffers deployed at counting centres for Pune's Lok Sabha seats
A total of 1,626 election personnel will be deployed at four counting centres in the city on June 4, when the counting of votes will determine the fate of candidates in Pune district’s four parliamentary seats.
The counting will take place amid tight security at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown, which will serve as the counting centre for both Pune and Baramati seats, the State Warehouse in Ranjangaon MIDC for the Shirur parliamentary seat, and the Balewadi Sports Complex for the Maval constituency.
On Monday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a meeting with election officials from all states and districts to ensure preparedness for the counting process. In a precautionary measure, five Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from each of the 24 assembly segments, including three from Raigad for the Maval parliamentary constituency, will undergo Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) tallying through a draw of lots before the final results are declared. “Each round should ideally be completed in 30 minutes if there are no issues,” a senior official said. The counting will commence at 8 am with the counting of postal ballots.
Deputy election officer Minal Kalaskar detailed the deployment, stating, “We have deployed 227 polling staff in Maval’s three constituencies and 250 for the Raigad constituencies. A total of 906 personnel will be at the FCI godown for the Pune and Baramati counting centres, while 493 will be at the Shirur counting centre.”
Shirur, with 2,566 polling stations, will see 27 rounds of counting, followed by Maval with 25 rounds, Baramati with 22 rounds, and Pune City with 21 rounds. For the EVM machines and postal ballot boxes, 113 tables have been allocated for Maval, 112 for Pune City, 124 for Baramati, and 112 for Shirur. Separate arrangements have been made for the counting of Election Transport Polling Booth Systems (ETPBS) and VVPAT slip tallying to ensure a smooth process.
