MUMBAI: Unlike the 2017 civic elections, counting of votes in the city this time will not be held simultaneously across all 227 electoral wards, but in phases.While the 23 returning officers are responsible for nearly 10 wards each, at a time votes from only 2 will be counted — or maximum 46 across the city. Officials said the phased approach should help speed up the counting process as all available human resources would be focussed on 2 wards. However, this has caused concerns that there will be no trends for all the seats soon after counting of votes begins Friday morning and that results of some wards will come later in the day.
Some BMC election candidates have expressed apprehensions over plan for counting of votes in phases. They argue that this method could delay declaration of results and prevent early trends from emerging across the city.At a press conference held on Monday at the civic headquarters, additional municipal commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi confirmed that it was decided to conduct counting of votes of two ‘prabhags’ (wards) at a time. “Once that is completed, counting for the other wards would be taken up,” she said.Veteran former corporator Vishakha Raut, who is contesting on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket from the Shivaji Park area in Dadar, said that under RO 19, hers is the last corporator ward, number 191, which means counting for it could come at the end. “What was the need to change the system? Simultaneous counting of votes would be better, because once counting begins, there is so much enthusiasm and everyone wants to know what the results are,” Raut said.BJP MLA and the party’s Mumbai unit president Ameet Satam said that while the decision is an administrative one, it would have been better to do it all together. “It could have been finished at one go,” Satam said.Congress MLA from Malad Aslam Shaikh said he smells manipulation in this by the time counting for the last wards begins. “Phasewise counting was not needed at all. What is the reason to keep some wards at the end? For so many years they (authorities) followed a pattern. Why the need to change it now?” Shaikh asked.Once voting is completed on Jan 15, the EVMs would all be taken to two strongrooms at Vikrohli and Kandivli. On Friday, which is counting day, they would be brought back again to the 23 offices where counting will happen. As per the prescribed procedure, votes recorded on the machines are counted by connecting the control unit with the ballot unit.If technical difficulties arise during counting even after the two units are connected, Printing Auxiliary Display Units (PADUs) will be used to complete the counting process. The PADUs will be deployed for the first time in the civic polls as a backup to ensure counting of votes in case of EVM glitches. A total of 140 PADUs, supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited, have been received and will be kept with returning officers for emergency use only.
