Counting of votes for the high-stakes Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will take place tomorrow morning with trends expected to be available by 11 am.
By 12 noon, a final picture could emerge on who would be the major players in the five states.Election Commission officials said the counting of votes commences at 8 am and will be completed by late evening.Counting will take place at 157 centres — Punjab (53), Goa (2), UP (75), Uttarakhand (15) and Manipur (12).According to Election Commission guidelines, half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting of EVM votes begins.
The ‘ballot unit’ is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get the results per machine.Where a paper trail audit or ‘voter-verified paper audit trail’ (VVPAT) has been used, the counting agent can call for a count of the paper slips in the drop box attached to the voting machine, but a final count is taken by the returning officer.
