Counting is on for the votes cast in the October 30 bypolls to the two Assembly constituencies of Vallabhnagar and Dhariyawad in Rajasthan.
The elections were necessitated after after the demise of Congress MLA Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Vallabhnagar and the BJP’s Gautamlal Meena from Dhariyawad.
Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that the counting began at 8 a.m. at the Mohanlal Sukhadia University Campus of Udaipur district headquarters for Vallabhnagar and Government Senior Secondary School, Neemuch Naka, Pratapgarh district headquarters for Dhariawad.
Counting of votes of the Vallabhnagar seat will be completed in 23 rounds and Dhariyawad in 24 rounds, he said.
In Vallabhnagar, a total of 1,186 postal ballots were issued in the categories of absentee voters above 80 years, absentee disabled voters, service voters and polling staff, out of which 1,049 postal ballots were received.
For Dhariyawad, 300 postal ballot papers were issued in the above four categories, out of which a total of 285 postal ballots have been received. Counting of postal ballots will be done in the Returning Officer’s chamber.
Gupta said that after the declaration of election results, no procession, rally and function will be allowed by the winning candidate. He said that only two persons would be allowed along with the winning candidate to obtain the certificate of election from the Returning Officer.
A total of 16 candidates were in the fray– nine from Vallabhnagar and seven from Dhariyavad.
Around 71.72 per cent polling was recorded in Vallabhnagar and about 69.10 per cent in Dhariyavad.
The polling percentage in both the assembly constituencies was around 70.40.
Gupta has directed the District Election Officer and District Superintendent of Police to visit the counting centres on time and ensure adequate security arrangements. CAPF, SAPF and local police have been deployed in a three-tier security circle.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that all necessary arrangements like sanitisation of the counting place a day before the counting place, arrangement of helpdesk, thermal scanner at the counting place, face shield, hand gloves, soap and sanitizer, separate toilets for women counting workers has been provided.
