Guwahati, May 31 (PTI) Installation of generators and inverters to ensure uninterrupted power supply are among special arrangements to be made for smooth counting of votes in parts of Assam, where communication links have been affected due to incessant rain in the aftermath of cyclone ‘Remal’, an official said on Friday Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Geol, addressing a press conference here, said from power backup to arrangements for feeding data on the portal will be in place for glitch-free counting of votes and declaration of results for the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Counting will begin at 8 am on June 4 in 152 halls across 52 centres in the state, he said.
“In West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts, there are some issues due to the damage caused by heavy rainfall. Surface communication has been disrupted and internet connectivity is also not reliable,” Goel said.
The Assam Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (APDCL) has assured of restoring uninterrupted power supply to the counting centre in Haflong, the headquarters of Dima Hasao, he said.
His office has also arranged for additional generators and invertors for power backup, the CEO said.
With the leased internet line still to be restored in Haflong, arrangements have been made for feeding counting data for Dima Hasao on the portal from Diphu, he added.
“BSNL has assured us of restoring the leased internet line, but we have our plan ready of feeding the details from Diphu,” he said.
Dima Hasao falls under the Diphu Lok Sabha seat and the official declaration of results for the constituency will be made from Diphu.
In Karimganj district of Barak Valley, flood waters were close to inundating the strong room and permission was taken from the Election Commission to move the EVMs and other materials to an upper floor of the building by following necessary protocols, the CEO said.
“The water level has receded now and we don’t think it will be necessary to move the materials,” he added.
Another problem in Karimganj could be the movement of election officials who need to bring the signed result copy to the CEO’s office here for submission in person at the Election Commission’s office by June 6, Goel said.
“For that, we have held discussions with neighbouring Meghalaya officials. We also made arrangements for our officials to walk through the landslide areas, if needed, to bring the papers on time,” he added.
The Lok Sabha polls were conducted as per the newly demarcated constituencies after the delimitation exercise was undertaken last year.
The CEO said security and counting personnel have been briefed of the arrangements through several training sessions for a smooth counting process.
Altogether 5,823 counting staff and 64 general observers are being engaged in the process, he added.
Goel said 1,28,299 postal ballots have been received till Thursday.
The state had registered an overall voter turnout of 81.56 per cent with polling conducted in three phases. PTI SSG SSG BDC
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