Karnataka: Over 13,000 polling staff to be deployed across 29 counting centers

With more than 13000 staff deployed at the 29 counting centers across Karnataka for the counting of votes on Tuesday for the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies elaborate arrangements have been put in place officials said on MondayAs the state complies of 28 constituencies the first phase of polling in the 14 seats in most of the southern and coastal districts was held on April 26 and the second phase in the other 14 segments in the northern districts was held on May 7Manoj Kumari Meena Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka told PTI We have 28 Parliamentary Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka and counting of votes at the 29 counting centers in the state will begin at 8 am on TuesdayEach Parliamentary Lok Sabha constituency has one counting center each However in Tumakuru counting of votes will be done in two places so the total number of counting centers is 29Manoj Kumari Meena further mentioned that elaborate arrangements have been made and 13173 counting staff including counting supervisors counting assistants and micro observers have been deployedAll necessary training for the staff has also been completed At each counting center EVMs and postal ballots will be counted in separate rooms Media centers have also been set up at each of these counting centers with required facilities with computers xerox fax printers so that they can report to their respective media outlets he added according to reports by PTIMore than 2400 police officers are reportedly appointed in Bengaluru alone at the three counting centers located in the state capital SSMRV College Jayanagar Bangalore South Constituency St Josephs Indian High School Vithal Mallya Road Bangalore North Constituency and Mount Carmel College Vasantnagar Bangalore Central ConstituencyIn order to guarantee a smooth and secure votecounting process under tight security suitable arrangements have been taken for the three Lok Sabha seats located within the boundaries of BBMP Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara PalikeA total of 1524 officerspersonnel 13 armed reserved units and four quick response teams have been deployed by Bangalore City Police unit for counting day and already 516 police officers and personnel including civil and City Armed Reserve wings have been deployed for maintaining strong room security duty in three shiftsSale of liquor is prohibited in city limits from Monday midnight to June 4 midnight and prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Bengaluru from 6 am on Tuesday to Tuesday midnightMore than 400 traffic department police officers and personnel will be stationed to ensure that traffic flow around the counting centers is not interrupted according to the reports from PTIA total of more than 2400 police officers and personnel of the city has been deployed for vote counting duty to monitor the situation in the three counting centersAccording to the police City Armed Reserve platoons and the Karnataka State Reserve Police KSRP will be deployed in sensitive areas of the city to no ensure that no untoward incident occurs