New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) With a stage set for counting of votes on June 4, overall 7,000 police personnel will be deployed at seven designated centres across the national capital to maintain law and order during the process, an official said on Monday.
The counting of votes will begin on June 4 (Tuesday) at Atal Adarsh Balika Vidyalaya, Gole Market in New Delhi, DTU, Shahbad Daulatpur in Northwest Delhi, Jijabai ITI for Women, Siri Fort in South Delhi, Sports Complex, CWG Village in East Delhi, SKV, Bharat Nagar in Chandni Chowk and ITI, Nand Nagri in North East Delhi.
According to officials, the strong rooms will be opened at around 6.30 am in the presence of the candidates.
With 162 candidates, the Lok Sabha elections were held on May 25 in seven constituencies in Delhi: East Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi, North West Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi, and Chandani Chowk.
A senior police official said that each counting centre will be manned by 1000 police personnel.
“There will be three layered security at the counting centres under the watch of over 200 CCTV cameras,” said the official.
“Security will be also beefed up in sensitive areas to maintain law and order and to ensure a smooth counting process,” said the official.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won all seats in Delhi during the 2019 elections, had made significant changes to its lineup this year, retaining only one of its sitting MPs, actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi.
The six new candidates, who contested, are Praveen Khandelwal (Chandni Chowk), Harsh Deep Malhotra (East Delhi), Yogender Chandolia (Northwest Delhi), Ramvir Singh Bhiduri (South Delhi), Kamaljeet Singh Sehrawat (West Delhi), and Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of late BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj, from New Delhi.
However, in this election, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are contesting together as part of the INDIA bloc. AAP had fielded candidates in four constituencies — East Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi, and New Delhi — while Congress contested the remaining three seats — Northeast Delhi, Northwest Delhi, and Chandni Chowk.
The AAP candidates include Kuldeep Kumar (East Delhi), Sahiram Pehalwan (South Delhi), Mahabal Mishra (West Delhi), and Somnath Bharti (New Delhi). Congress has nominated Udit Raj (Northwest Delhi), Jai Prakash Agarwal (Chandni Chowk), and former JNU Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar (Northeast Delhi).
–IANS
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