Support for peaceful conduct of counting: Collector Harinarayanan

Nellore: District Collector and Electoral Officer M Harinarayanan has appealed political parties to extend their support for peaceful conduction of counting of votes.

In the wake of ongoing tense situation in several places, the district administration has adopted several precautionary measures for smooth conduct of vote counting scheduled on June 4. As part of this initiative, the Collector held a meeting with the leaders of all political parties here on Thursday.

Speaking the occasion, Collector Harinarayanan instructed that counting agents from different political parties and independent candidates should be at the counting hall by 7 am, as the counting begins at 8 am. He said mobile phones strictly not allowed into the counting hall and counting agents should deposit their mobiles at the specified centre set up outside of the building. He said Election Commission has deployed four counting observers to monitor the procedure and agents could bring any issue related to counting to them.

The Collector explained that 17 tables have been set up for each constituency, 24 tables for electronic voting machines, 2 tables for postal ballot and one for RO. He said candidates can check the seal put on the strong room three times a day, at 11 am, 3 pm and 7 pm.

DRO Lavananna, representatives of political parties K Subba Rao (YSRCP), M Surendra Babu (TDP), R Srinivas (BJP), M Ajay (CPM), Bala Sudhakar (Congress) and others were present.