Chennai, June 3 (UNI) The state is all set for counting of votes polled in the single phase elections held on April 19 to elect 39 members to the 18th Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday morning, amid tight security.
Along with the Lok Sabha polls, bye-election to the Vilavancode Assembly seat, which fell vacant following the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Ms S.Vijayadharani, was also held.
Exit polls by various agencies have predicted a big win for the ruling DMK-led Front in the elections.
A total of 69.72 per cent of the total 6.23 crore voters, including 3.17 crore women and 3.06 crore men, had cast their ballots in this democratic exercise.
Counting will be held in 43 centres, including three in Chennai, which was provided a three-tier security.
Apart from protection to the storage rooms provided by three levels of security personnel, including armed personnel from the Central Armed Security Forces and also the local police, representatives of political parties has constantly kept close vigil on the strong rooms following some reports of malfunctioning of CCTVs in some places, which was however, set right immediately.
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said 38,500 officials will be involved in counting of votes and the entire process will be videographed.
As has been the usual practice, counting of postal ballots will be taken up first after which the seals will be removed from EVMs and the votes polled in it would be counted.
Initial trends is likely to be available after the first two hours of counting and the entire results are expected to be announced by tomorrow evening/night.
In the single phase polling, being held in the first phase as part of the seven-phase elections, a total of 1.58 lakh Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used in the state.
The electoral fortunes of 950 candidates–876 men and 74 women–candidates, including 609 Independents, which had contested the polls would be known tomorrow.
