GWMC polls: Stage set for counting today

Warangal : The fate of 502 candidates in the fray for the 66 Divisions of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) will be decided on Monday.

The Delhi Public School at Rampur, located on the suburbs of the city, is all geared up for the counting of votes polled in the election to the GWMC on April 30.

With the region witnessing a spurt in the coronavirus pandemic cases, it has become a huge task for the district administration to ensure the completion of the entire process in accordance with Covid-19 protocol.

To ensure a smooth process of counting, the authorities divided 66 divisions of the urban local body (ULB) into three blocks. Each division will have two tables and the counting will be booth-wise. One thousand votes will be counted in each round.

The authorities will allow two counting agents, two staff and a supervisor. The officials were to count the postal ballots first, before opening the ballot boxes. Each bundle has 25 votes.

It may be recalled here that the number of votes polled in the election was 3,63,573 with a poll percentage of 54.74. The number of voters in the GWMC is 6,64,188.

Warangal Urban District Collector Rajeev Gandhi Hanumanthu, who along with Municipal Commissioner Pamela Satpathy officiating the counting process, said that they have made fool-proof arrangements. The ballot boxes have been stored in strong rooms close to the counting tables.

The whole process would be under the surveillance of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, the Collector said. The results were expected to be out by the evening, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police Tarun Joshi has issued orders prohibiting victory rallies on Monday. This apart, Section 144 is also in force near the counting centres. Joshi urged people to cooperate with the administration so that to keep Covid-19 threat at bay.