Tamil Nadu, Puducherry gear up for counting of votes in 40 constituencies in all

Chennai/Puducherry, Jun 3 (PTI) All arrangements are in place for counting of votes on June 4 for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the single LS segment in Puducherry, officials said on Monday.

Vote counting at the 39 counting centres spread across Tamil Nadu will begin at 8 am. Postal ballots shall be taken up first, after which the votes cast in EVMs would be taken up by 8.30 am.

Nearly 40,000 personnel have been deployed for the exercise.

As many as 950 candidates are in the fray in the 39 Lok Sabha segments in the state, which had a voter turnout of 69.72 per cent in the April 19 single-phase election in Tamil Nadu.

About one lakh police personnel will stand guard and 15 companies of personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces are also deployed.

The votes polled in South Chennai will be counted at Anna University, while the premises of Queen Mary's and Loyola colleges will be used for counting of votes cast in the North and Central Chennai constituencies respectively.

On June 4, the votes polled in the Vilavancode bypoll (Kanyakumari district) will also be counted, and complete results for the LS seats and the lone assembly segment are expected to be fully out by evening.

According to several exit polls, in Tamil Nadu the ruling DMK and its allies are poised for a big win in most constituencies. The principal opposition AIADMK is expected to put up a tough fight in seats like Erode. Similarly, the BJP and its allies are said to have an edge in segments like Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Dharmapuri.

The INDIA bloc constituents, including the DMK, have already urged the Election Commission to first count the postal votes and then take up counting of votes recorded in EVMs.

Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has held meetings with District Election Officers to review the preparedness for vote counting, declaration of results, security and all other necessary arrangements.

The Union Territory of Puducherry also voted in the Lok Sabha poll in the first phase on April 19, along with the state of Tamil Nadu.

There are 26 aspirants in the fray in the UT for the lone Lok Sabha seat, although the main fight for all practical purposes is between the sitting Member of Parliament V Vaithilingam (Congress) and the Home Minister of Puducherry and senior Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader A Namassivayam.

The AIADMK nominee is G Tamizh Vendhan.

The union territory has registered 78.90 percent polling.

Official sources said that three-tier security has been put in place at the counting centres. In Puducherry region, counting of votes will take place at the Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic and the Government Women's Engineering college in Lawspet.

Aringar Anna Government Arts and Science College is the venue for counting of votes in Karaikal, while the Jawaharlal Nehru Government Higher Secondary school and the Dr S R K Government Arts college are the venues for counting of votes in Mahe and Yanam regions respectively.

More than 700 police personnel are on security duty at the counting centres, official sources said.

Counting of votes in 12 of the total 30 assembly constituencies would be taken up in the first round while in 10 segments it would be taken up in the second round, and votes polled in the remaining eight segments will be taken up in the third round.

The government has directed that all liquor shops in the union territory be shut tomorrow. PTI VGN/CORR ANE