E-Paper
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Who has the mandate to steer Pune for the next five years?
From giving appropriate training, to proposing traffic diversions and appointing 242 officials, the election department is all geared up for counting day. The fate of the contestants of Pune Lok Sabha seat will be decided on Thursday evening
On Thursday, we will get a clear picture as to who has the mandate to steer the city. A total of 21 rounds of counting of votes will be completed by the evening of May 23 for the Pune Lok Sabha seat. Post counting, the fate of the contestants will be decided as the results for the Lok sabha elections will be declared.
On Sunday, Naval Kishore Ram, Pune district collector, conducted a meeting with the departments concerned, including police and traffic, to review the preparedness of the officials for the counting day.
“Appropriate training has been given to all the officials and we are completely prepared for the counting day. Also, we do not intend to be in the race for declaring the results faster in comparison to other districts, our focus is on accuracy,” said Monica Singh, deputy election officer.
Pune district has four parliamentary constituencies, namely Pune, Baramati, Maval and Shirur. Out of these four constituencies, maximum rounds will be conducted in Shirur (27), followed by Maval (25), Baramati (22) and Pune (21).
The counting for Pune and Baramati parliamentary constituencies will be held at the Food Corporation of India godown in Koregaon Park. For Maval and Shirur parliamentary constituencies, the counting will be held at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi.
“For the Pune parliamentary constituency, 232 staff members will be deputed with 116 micro observers for 96 tables, while for Baramati 256 polling staff and 128 micro observers will be deployed for 106 tables. The counting process will commence at 8 am with counting of postal ballots first in the district,” said Singh.
Singh added, “The election department has made separate arrangements for counting of postal ballots, electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips.”
At least 1,500 polling staff will be deployed at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi and the Food Corporation of India godown, Koregaon Park on May 23.
Proposed traffic diversion on counting day
Naval Kishore Ram, Pune district collector on Sunday met Pankaj Deshmukh, city traffic deputy commissioner of police, to review the proposed vehicular diversion on the day of counting.
Deshmukh said, “In order to ensure a smooth process on the day of counting, we have proposed a vehicular diversion near Koregaon Park. The south main road in Koregaon Park along with few lanes will be closed for operations and the vehicles will be diverted to the parallel roads. A notification regarding the same will be issued on May 20.”
