Lok Sabha polls: All arrangements in place for vote counting in Kashmir

“All arrangements, including security, have been finalised for the smooth conduct of counting of votes for Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag parliamentary constituencies,” official sources said.

One counting center each for Baramulla, Anantnag, Srinagar Lok Sabha seats have been established while two centers have been established for Ladakh constituency, one each in Kargil and Leh.

Three centers have also been established for counting of migrant votes at Udhampur, Jammu and New Delhi. ''The announcement of final results will be delayed in J&K due to the increase in tallying Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) from every Assembly segment,'' they said, adding that tallying will only start after the last round of counting.

Meanwhile, Returning Officer for Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency Dr G N Itoo said that all arrangements have been made for counting of votes on Thursday. ''All the requisite arrangements have been made well in advance so that the process is conducted in a convenient and hassle-free manner,'' he said.

He informed that the counting staff has been duly sensitised about their assignments for which special training sessions were conducted by the administration. He also said that mobile phones have been strictly prohibited in the counting centres and directed the concerned staff to abide by the rules and guidelines envisaged by the EC.

About 34.61 per cent voters of over 13 lakh eligible electorate exercised their franchise to elect their representative from nine candidates in Baramulla parliamentary constituency, which is spread across 15 Assembly segments of three districts of north Kashmir-- Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora.

Meanwhile, about 14.8 per cent voters of 12.95 lakh electorate sealed the fate of 12 candidates, including National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, who is seeking re-election from Srinagar Parliamentary constituency.

Returning Officer (RO)for Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency Khalid Jahangir asserted that all arrangements were finalised for the counting of votes on Thursday for the Lok Sabha seat in south Kashmir.

He said for counting of votes polled for Anantnag PC, 16 counting centres have been established at Government Degree College (Boys) Khanabal Anantnag.

The RO sought cooperation from the political parties to ensure hassle-free counting process. He stated that all required arrangements have been put in place as per EC guidelines.

Moreover, a control room has already been set up in the GDC (Boys) Khanabal. To ease rush two entry gates will be opened on Thursday one for officials and another for political parties/ candidates.