Thiruvananthapuram: The counting of the votes polled in the local body elections in Kerala will be held at 244 counting centres across the state on Wednesday.

District-wise counting centres: Thiruvananthapuram – 16, Kollam – 16, Pathanamthitta – 12, Alappuzha – 18, Kottayam – 17, Idukki – 10, Ernakulam -28, Thrissur – 24, Palakkad – 20, Malappuram – 27, Kozhikode – 20, Wayanad – 7, Kannur – 20, and Kasaragod – 9.

All centres would be disinfected on Tuesday. Counting officers should wear gloves, masks and face shields. Candidates and counting agents should also wear masks and use sanitisers. Basic facilities at the counting centres would be arranged by the respective local body secretaries.

Postal votes first

Postal votes will be counted first. The counting of votes of the three-tier panchayats will be held at the distribution and receiving centres at the block-level. In the municipalities and corporations, the counting will be held at the respective distribution and receiving centres. Postal votes at the grama, block and district panchayats will be counted by the respective returning officers.

Arrangements as per social distancing norms

Returning officer of the block panchayat will be allotted one hall and grama panchayats within the limits of the block panchayat will have separate counting halls. Special counting halls would be assigned for each returning officer of the municipalities and corporations.

The arrangements will be made in line with the social distancing norms. One table for a maximum of eight polling stations. Counting of all polling stations in one ward will be held at the same table.

The control units of the voting machines would be brought from the strong rooms based on the number of tables set up for counting at the hall.

Counting should begin from the first ward. If there are more than one booth in one ward, these would be counted on the same table.

In three-tier panchayats, one counting supervisor and two counting assistants will be assigned to one table. And in municipalities, there will be one counting supervisor and one counting assistant.

Real-times updates on ‘Trend’

The vote counting updates will be available in real-time on the ‘Trend’ website of the state election commission. At the district level, figures from the grama, block, district panchayats, municipalities and corporation would be available at one glance.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed the website. There are also special features on the Trend website for the media to get real-time updates. A special room would be set up at the counting centre for uploading the data on the ‘Trend’ software.

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