Decks cleared for vote count of 60 ACs today from 8 am
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 09 2022: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Agrawal has informed that all arrangements have been made for the counting of votes for the 12th State Assembly election at 41 halls in 12 centres from 8 am tomorrow.

A press release issued by the CEO informed that the DEOs and Superintendents of Police in each district have been directed to make elaborate security arrangements.

Continuing that the entire process of counting will be supervised by 41 General Observers appointed by the Election Commission in addition to the Returning Offi- cers concerned, Rajesh Agrawal mentioned the process of counting will be webcasted to the district control rooms and the State control room at the CEO office.

Decks cleared for vote count of 60 ACs today from 8 am

The trends and final results of the counting will be available in public domain on the Voter Helpline App and at (www.results.eci.gov.in) Further, the results will also be displayed at the western gate of Kangla, the CEO informed.

Meanwhile, the State reported a record voter turnout of 89.3 per cent in the 12th State Assembly election with Wangoi Constituency topping the chart at 94.8 per cent.

The poll percentages during the 10th and 11th Assembly elections were 79.5 and 86.4 percent respectively.

Rajesh Agrawal said that at least 36 Assembly Constituencies recorded 90 percent or more voter turnout in the election which was held in two phases on February 28 and March 5 .

Among 60 Assembly Constituencies, Wangoi recorded the highest voter turnout at 94.8 percent and it is followed by Chandel (94.3 pc), Mayang Imphal (94.1pc), Lamlai 93.7 (pc), Tengnoupal (93.5 pc), Lamsang (93.4 pc), Hiyang-lam (93.4 pc), Heirok (93.1pc) .

The turnout of female voters is as high as 90.5 per cent while male turnout is recorded as 87.9 pc, he said and added that overwhelming participation of PwD electors was witnessed in the elections as over 90 per cent of the total of 14,565 PwD electors exercised their franchise.

Further stating that the votes will be counted at 41 counting halls spread in 12 counting centres on March 10, he informed that the counting process will start at 8 am.

The DEOs and Superintendents of Police in each district have been directed to make elaborate security arrangements for counting, Rajesh Agrawal continued and stated that the entire process of counting will also be supervised by 41 General Observers appointed by the Election Commission in addition to the Returning Officers concerned.

Prioritise voting facilities were provided to PwD, 80+, transgenders and lactating mothers, the CEO said.

Maintaining that 604 polling stations out of 2,968 were completely manned by all female poll officials and it was the highest percentage of women booths in the country, Rajesh Agrawal added that 113 model polling stations were set up with selfie and photo booths attached.

Notably, 5 Assembly Constituencies including 13-Singjamei, 14-Yaiskul, 15- Wangkhei, 31-Thoubal and 58-Churachandpur ACs were manned by women.

To ensure Covid safe election, adequate arrangements such as thermal screening, queue management etc were taken apart from distributing hand gloves and face masks to the voters, he added.

Altogether 11 district RRT teams and 60 AC level RRT teams were also deployed to attend to health-related emergencies, Rajesh Agrawal said and maintained that three helicopters were also deployed to airlift casualties, EVMs and polling teams.

A total of 18 persons including 4 deceased were airlifted during the election.

The Assembly elections also witnessed a record seizure of Rs 6.14 crore in cash, drugs and narcotics worth Rs 143 crore, gold and other precious metals worth Rs 12 crore and freebies worth Rs 7.4 crore.

Maintaining that 80.98 per cent of license arm holders deposited their weapons ahead of the election as compared to 59.76 per cent in 2017, the CEO stated that 3,117 persons were also identified as trouble mongers as against 673 in 2017 .

The voting at the majority of the polling stations was monitored through webcasting while over 300 companies of CAPF and State police were deployed to ensure violent free election, he said and added that over 763 micro observers were also employed to supervise the proceedings at polling stations.