Dehradun. Counting of votes is the most important and the last stage of the election after voting in the democratic election process. This whole process takes a long time. From randomization of counting staff to round-the-clock counting of votes in a transparent manner in a security circle, is an important part of this process. In which returning officers, counting personnel, counting agents, and personnel guarding EVMs have an important role. Let us know how and where the process of counting votes starts and ends. What are the processes to go through during this time?

Strong Rooms, Security, and Counting Places
The process of voting in the state of Uttarakhand has been done on 14 February. Sealed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VPAT) are brought to the counting center and kept in the strong room as soon as the polling is over. Whose security is guarded 24 hours? The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) is responsible for the security of the strong room in Uttarakhand. The strong room is surrounded by a three-tier security circle so that there is no such activity that may cause any damage to the EVMs. This security continues till the counting of votes. The counting place is made near the strong room. This site is made by the State Election Officer at a fixed place in the district headquarters. Where the votes of all the assembly constituencies belonging to that district are counted.

Randomization will happen at five in the morning
Counting of votes is to be held on March 10 in five states of the country including Uttarakhand. Training related to the counting of votes is given in advance to the employees posted in the counting of votes. The deployment of these employees is to be done in some assembly and some table. It is known only on the day of the counting of votes. The District Election Officer does the randomization for the deployment of counting personnel at 5 in the morning on the day of the counting of votes through the computer. After which the counting personnel reaches the counting place at 6 in the morning. After which they get the information of their tables.

This is how the process of counting begins
Counting staff, agents of different parties are allowed inside the counting center till 6 am on the day of counting. The agents have to produce the admit card from the District Election Officer to reach the counting place. Seating arrangements are made for the agents near the counting table. In this area, counting officers, employees and agents are prohibited from using phones, cameras, and other restricted material.

Counting of postal ballots takes place first
The counting of votes will begin at 8 am on the counting day. In this process, the postal ballots are first counted. The Returning Officer of the concerned assembly sends the postal ballot to the counting table of the concerned assembly. That’s why the result of postal ballot votes is released first. Even though the counting of postal ballots is done again in the case when the postal ballot votes are becoming important in the victory or defeat of a candidate.

Counting begins in front of agents
Counting starts from the EVM control unit only half an hour after the counting of postal ballots starts. For this, the EVM control unit is first brought from the strong room to the counting table. A maximum of 14 EVM controls are counted at a time. For this, the State Election Commission arranges the table in the same way. At the counting table, the counting personnel starts the counting of votes in the presence of the agents. In which the seals etc. of the EVM machine are checked and it is ensured that no tampering has been done with the machine.

The number of votes is displayed as soon as the result button is pressed.
On the counting table, the officials involved in the entire process of counting votes tell the counting agents how to press the button of the EVM control unit, after which the number of votes for each candidate is shown. As the counting officer presses the result button in the EVM control unit, the number of votes polled for each candidate is arrived at. During this process, the counting staff gives the number of votes polled to each candidate in a letter issued by the Election Commission and gives it to the Returning Officer.

Declaration of results of the first round
The counting rounds are decided according to the polling booths and EVMs in every assembly. The assembly which has the least number of polling places has the least number of counting rounds in that assembly. One round of counting is completed. The counting staff gives all the information to the Returning Officer. In each round, the Returning Officer selects the two EVM Control Units enumerated. Those two EVM control units are checked under the direction of Returning Officer and an Assistant Returning Officer. So that it should be confirmed that the report given by the counting personnel is correct. It is also matched with the table. After which the results of the first round are announced. The result of each round of counting is communicated to the Chief Electoral Officer. Then from here, the information is fed into the election’s server.

Each round is matched
During the counting of votes, the EVM control unit data and the data entered in the sheet are reconciled after each round. After reconciliation, it is also noted to the Returning Officer and the agents of the candidates. Apart from this, the counting of votes is pasted after each round on the board installed at the counting place. So that there is complete transparency. The process of counting the votes continues till the counting of votes is completed. After the counting of votes is over, the Returning Officer issues a certificate of victory to the winning candidate.