AHMEDABAD: All necessary preparations are in place for the counting of votes on Tuesday for elections to 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, where the BJP is eyeing another landslide victory while the Indian National Congress is hoping to thwart the saffron powerhouse.
The counting of votes will take place at 26 polling stations from 8 am on Tuesday under three levels of security, officials said.
Elections for 25 of Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha seats were held simultaneously on May 7.
More than 250 candidates ran in the polls, with turnout reaching 60.13 percent.
The BJP has already struck its first blow, with Mukesh Dalal winning the Surat Assembly seat unopposed after the nomination of the Indian National Congress’ Nilesh Kumbani was rejected due to irregularities in the proposer’s signature and other candidates withdrew ahead of the polls.
The BJP is aiming to repeat its landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 in the home states of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
State Election Commissioner P. Bharati said in a statement that one counting station would be set up in each of the 24 Lok Sabha constituencies, including two in Anand Sabha.
He said 56 vote monitors, 30 election officials and 180 assistant election officials would be deployed during the exercise.
An additional 614 assistant election officials are responsible for postal voting, the statement said.
Each counting table will have a micro monitor, a counting supervisor and a counting assistant, while two micro monitors will be stationed in the counting hall. The entire process will be videotaped, Bharati said.
The vault will be opened in the presence of the Election Officer/Assistant Election Officer, candidates or their authorised representatives and observers appointed by the Election Commission of India.
The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be removed after each round and taken to the poll counting centres, the statement said.
A three-tier security system will be in place at all vote counting centres, with local police deployed outside the campuses.
According to the statement, the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) will be present at the vote-counting locations, while the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will be present outside the vote-counting centres and at the entrance to the vaults.
Among the likely candidates were Home Minister Shah from Gandhinagar and Cabinet ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala from Rajkot.
During the election campaign, the BJP had to face the wrath of the Kshatriya community over comments made by Rajkot’s Rupala, who had alleged that several rulers of the community had “roti and beti” (marriage and trade) relations with the British and other foreign invaders.
Rupala was up against Paresh Dhanani, a former BJP lawmaker who had defeated him in the 2002 state assembly elections.
Several community leaders excused Rupala’s remarks and urged their compatriots to vote for the BJP for the sake of the country and Prime Minister Modi.
The Indian National Congress has teamed up with the Aam Aadmi Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, hoping the move will prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from repeating its landslide victories of 2014 and 2019 by preventing the fragmentation of opposition votes.
The Indian National Congress, which fielded four sitting and eight former MPs as part of the alliance, won 24 seats (including Surat), while the AAP won Bhavnagar and Bharuch.
Modi and Shah led the election campaign in the state, considered the BJP’s strongest base.
In the Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were star campaigners along with Mallikarjun Kharge.
The AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, has been campaigning with senior leaders like Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Yadav holding rallies.
Delhi Chief Minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, who is in jail in an excise policy-related case, also held a roadshow in Bharuch.
Published June 3, 2024 11:01 IST
