Hyderabad: Municipal election counting began across Telangana at 8 am on Friday amid tight security arrangements.
A total of 10,179 candidates contested from 2,569 wards in 116 municipalities. Meanwhile, 2,225 candidates competed in 412 divisions across seven municipal corporations.
Authorities set up 123 counting centres statewide. Initially, officials began counting postal ballot votes. Subsequently, they shifted sealed ballot boxes from strong rooms to counting tables, ward and division-wise.
In the presence of candidates and counting agents, officials broke the seals. They then opened all ballot boxes of a ward or division together and mixed the votes thoroughly.
After mixing, the staff prepared bundles of 25 ballot papers each. They grouped 40 such bundles to form a stack of 1,000 votes. If any bundle contained fewer than 25 ballots, they tagged it separately for counting.
Tight security marks the municipal election counting process
Police deployed heavy security at all counting centres. Additionally, authorities arranged webcasting through CCTV cameras inside and outside the halls.
The Election Commission banned mobile phones and electronic gadgets inside the counting halls. Only counting supervisors, assistants, candidates and authorised agents with valid passes gained entry.
Across the State, 10,800 personnel are on counting duty. Officials are using separate compartments in wooden trays for each candidate, NOTA and doubtful votes.
After the segregation, the staff will count the votes round-wise. Supervisors will record figures and sign the result sheet for each round. Thereafter, agents will also sign the round statements.
Finally, the Returning Officer will declare the candidate with the highest votes elected and issue the certificate.