RAIPUR: Raipur Collector Dr. Sarveshwar Bhure on Wednesday held a meeting regarding the preparations for the vote count. The vote count will take place on December 3 at Sejbahar Engineering College.

He said the strong room will be opened in the presence of ECI observers, returning officers, candidates or representatives of political parties at seven in the morning of December 3.

The political parties should communicate it well in advance. The entire process will be videographed. From the strong room, the control units of EVM machines will reach the counting hall, and counting of votes will begin at 8 o'clock. Mobile phones are strictly prohibited in the venue.

Dr. Bhure stated that identity cards issued to candidates during the nomination, and the identity card issued to the election agent in the Format 8 will be valid for their entry in the counting hall. Entry will not be allowed without an identity card.

Apart from the candidates and election agents, separate passes have been issued by the election office to the counting agents, table wise, to enter the counting centre. Counting agents will be able to enter the counting centre only with these passes.

Dr. Bhure further stated that the postal ballots will be counted first. The returning officer will make an announcement approximately half an hour later which will be followed by counting of votes on EVMs while the counting of postal ballots will continue.

14 tables will be set up for EVMs and 2 tables for postal ballots in each assembly for the vote counting. Each table will have a supervisor who will be of gazetted officer rank, along with counting assistants, he said.

The appointment of the counting team will be done after three rounds of randomization. The first round of randomization will be done in the presence of the District Election Officer, and the second and third randomization will be done in the presence of the Observer.