The activities will start really early on 16 May and so will the celebrations. The saffron brigade plans to start distributing ladoos, burst crackers and celebrate with colours as soon as it becomes obvious that BJP would wrest power at the Centre after a gap of 10 years.
The counting will begin early morning on 16 May at 8 am. On 10 April, almost 82.7 lakh Delhi voters had exercised their right and created a record with the largest number of voters turning out to exercise their franchise. The seven counting centres for Lok Sabha polls in the city have virtually turned into fortresses.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev informed that counting will begin with the 14,500 postal ballots that were cast. Then after a gap of half an hour, counting of the EVMs will take place.
As many as 20,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used at various polling booths in Delhi have been placed under strict surveillance at secured locations. The counting centres have three layers of security with more than 50 security personnel armed with automatic weapons at each centre. The security team comprises 50 percent of paramilitary personnel and another 50 percent of local police personnel.
The seals of the EVMs will be opened on early Friday morning in presence of the Returning Officer (RO) and a senior police official.
‘The counting will start at 8 am. The postal ballots issued to the government officials to exercise their franchise will be counted first. There are more than 14,500 postal ballots in the city,’ said an IAS officer posted with the Delhi electoral office.
A video recording of the entire process of counting at all the counting centres will be conducted for a transparent result.
‘A colour coding has been done for the EVMs for each parliamentary constituency. An officer of the rank of Sub-Inspector or Inspector will escort EVMs to the counting room,’ a senior police officer said.
To facilitate the poll officials, the Delhi electoral officers have set up water proof tents at the centres.
Adequate quantity of drinking water and other basic amenities have also been ensured at the counting centres for the polling officers and security personnel.
Mobile phones, cameras, laptops, i-pads and other such equipment of communication are not allowed inside the counting centres.
Counting of votes is likely to be over by late afternoon.