Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Voting machines come as a boon

Staff Reporter

Counting of votes completed without any hitch

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The introduction of electronic voting machines has come as a boon to political parties, candidates and election officials.

Counting of votes was completed without any hitch. All the election results were announced by afternoon. The initial trends about the voting pattern were clear by 8.30 a.m. itself.

Elaborate arrangements were made by the Election Commission to provide the results to the public as well as mediapersons. The media centre set up at the legislative complex was well equipped to coordinate results from the 128 counting stations across the State. The initial trends were available within 10 minutes of the beginning of the counting . Chief Electoral Officer Nalini Netto visited the media centre to oversee the arrangements.

Besides officials of the Election Department, staff of the National Informatics Centre (Kerala) and Keltron were present at the media centre to provide results.

The Public Relations Department had also set up a media centre at the Collectorate to provide results of the 14 segments in the district.

Around 9 a.m., the trends of nearly 100 constituencies were flashed on the giant screen set up at the media centre. Once the lead positions became clear and the majority of the LDF was established, the focus of the discussions shifted to the formation of the Government and also the election of the Chief Minister.

Functioning of the Secretariat and the other Government offices in the capital was badly hit.

The initial lead secured by the BJP in Manjeswaram and Palakkad led to speculation that the party might open its account in the Assembly, but such speculation was short-lived.

There were also discussions about the veracity of the opinion and exit polls.

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