Delhi civic polls: 32 counting centres set up

New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) The Delhi State Election Commission has set up counting centres at 32 places across the city for counting of votes for the recently trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.

The counting will begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday, State Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said.

"We have made appropriate arrangements for carrying out the counting. We have set up 32 counting centres in various parts of Delhi. The counting will start by 8 a.m. and the trends of the results are expected by 12 noon tomorrow (Tuesday). But the final tally is expected to be out by evening," Mehta told reporters.

Polling for the trifurcated civic body was held Sunday in which 55 percent polling was recorded.

"We have deployed adequate number of security personnel at the 32 counting centres, where the electronic voting machines (EVM) are kept till the counting is taken up," Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dharmendra Kumar told IANS.

A total of 2,423 candidates were in the fray for 272 municipal wards of the three municipal corporations of North, South and East Delhi.

"We will not allow mobile phones inside the counting hall. There is no CCTV coverage, but the counting process will be videographed. Apart from this, the counting agents will have separate entry and exit. A strict vigil will be kept by the police personnel in and around the counting centres, which are mostly educational institutions," Mehta added.

Tuesday will give the verdict on the winner - whether it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Congress led by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.