DK: Vote counting center shifted to outside the city

Mangaluru: The concerned authorities have selected National Institute of Technology (Karnataka) (NITK) which is located outside the city to be the vote counting centre for Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. This change in the location of vote counting is being done for the first time here for security reasons since there is a gap of over a month between the date of voting and counting. Also this change in location provides the additional space required for the VVPAT machines.

The counting for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was done at Mahatma Gandhi Composite PU College at Bondel here. The counting of votes for the last Assembly elections was also done at the very same school. The counting was done at Canara College in 2009, but problems occurred here due to the dense traffic in the area.

Since the voting will be taking place on April 18, but counting of votes will be undertaken on May 23, it has increased the security concerns. Therefore, additional responsibility has been taken by the district administration to ensure safe and secure environment for keeping electronic voting machines and VVPAT units. Hence, NITK Surathkal has been chosen as the counting centre as it fulfills the requirements of the area of concern, it is understood.

Already, proper arrangements are being made inside NITK premises in this regard. This change in location for the storing and counting of the votes has received approval from the Deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Sasikanth Senthil, city police commissioner Sandeep Patil and several senior officials after they visited and inspected NITK Surathkal.

In view of the need for a suitable space and security reasons, the counting of votes is being done at NITK this time. The district administration and police departments have undertaken scrutiny of this centre and found it to be suitable for the purpose informed the DC.