General Observers inspect counting centre in Tirunelveli

The General Observers for the five Assembly constituencies in Tirunelveli district on Monday inspected the counting centre at Government Engineering College to ascertain the arrangements to be made for hassle-free counting of votes on May 4.

Accompanied by Collector R. Sukumar, Commissioner of Police, Tirunelveli City, Deshmukh Shekhar Sanjay and Superintendent of Police V. Prassannakumar, the General Observers, Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod and Anubha Shrivatsava, visited the counting centre, where 1,678 EVMs and VVPATs with votes polled in Tirunelveli, Ambasamudram, Palayamkottai, Nanguneri and Radhapuram would be kept in separate strong rooms on April 23 night.

While the strong room and the counting hall for Tirunelveli and Nanguneri Assembly constituencies will be set up at the administrative block of the engineering college, the mechanical engineering block will house the strong room and the counting hall of Ambasamudram segment.

The Computer Science block and Electrical and Electronics Engineering block will have the strong rooms and counting halls for Radhapuram and Palayamkottai constituencies respectively.

The General Observers were briefed about the facilities to be created at the counting centre such as generator, drinking water, restrooms, three-tier security arrangements, barricades in and outside the counting centre, deployment of police personnelin three shifts from April 23 and metal detectors to be installed at the entrance of each block.

“Following the guidelines stipulated by the Election Commission, we are setting up the strong rooms where the EVMs and the VVPATs will be kept. CCTV cameras will be fitted in and outside the strong rooms. Moreover, round-the-clock surveillance system will be in place in and outside the engineering college campus. Armed police personnel will guard the campus round-the-clock. Watch towers will be erected at vantage points,” said Dr. Sukumar.

District Revenue Officer M. Durai, Corporation Commissioner Monika Rana, Sub-Collector, Cheranmahadevi, Ayush Gupta and other senior officials were present.

In the afternoon, Dr. Hrishikesh and Ms. Anubha visited a few polling booths in the Assembly constituencies.