In a bid to increase the speed of counting of votes on May 23, the Election Commission (EC) has allowed to increase the number of tables in some Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies in the Maharashtra.
According to a letter the Kolhapur district collectorate has received from the EC, there will be 20 tables each instead of 14 in Kolhapur and Hatkanangale Lok Sabha constituencies. The EC also allowed to increase the number of tables in Maval and Panvel assembly constituencies, which are part of Maval Lok Sabha seat. “The decision is taken mainly due to the number of polling stations in these Lok Sabha and assembly segments.
With more number of polling stations, the actual counting procedure with only 14 tables will take over 10 hours to finalise the results,” Sanjay Shinde, resident collector of Kolhapur, said. “Similar is the case with Maval and Panvel assembly segments, which are part of Maval Lok Sabha seat. Both the assembly segments have more than 800 polling stations, whereas general average is of 700-800 polling stations in every assembly segment,” an official from Pune district collectorate said.