Officials say Chennai ready for counting

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on May 11, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/officials-say-chennai-ready-for-counting/273303.html

CHENNAI: Arrangements for the smooth counting of votes polled in the 16 Assembly constituencies, falling under Chennai, have been put in place at the three Counting Centres, the District Election Officer D Karthikeyan told Express in Chennai on Tuesday.

“We are fully prepared for D-Day (May 13),” he said after chairing a high-level meeting taking stock of the preparations with all returning officers and other officials linked to Assembly polls at Ripon Building.

Given the space constraints of interiors of the counting halls and to maintain better coordination among the staff and agents of different political party candidates, the DEO has planned to reduce the number of tables to be setup in each constituency.

Of the 16 constituencies, the mandatory number of 14 tables has been reduced in the six constituencies of Egmore (12 tables), Kolathur (11 tables), Thiru Vi Ka Nagar (11), Chepauk-Triplicane (12), Royapuram (12) and Harbour (12).

Though the reduction would increase the number of counting rounds in these constituencies, it would also ensure more transparency, Karthikeyan said.

Meanwhile, the final phase of training for the 650-odd counting supervisors and counting assistants would be held on Wednesday.Returning officers would oversee the training programme to complete which they would be divided into four batches, sources said.Besides, a similar training programme for the 225 micro observers, to be deployed in the city’s three Counting Centres to independently monitor the counting process, would be held on Thursday.