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Patna, November 12 (IANS) After the completion of voting for both phases of Bihar Assembly Elections 2025, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has intensified preparations for the counting of votes to be held on November 14.
To ensure a transparent and smooth process, counting of votes will take place at 46 centers across the state including Patna under a three-tier security system.
According to an ECI official, the electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been safely stored in strong rooms near each counting centre.
These facilities are under 24-hour CCTV surveillance, and candidates or their representatives are allowed to monitor the footage to ensure complete transparency.
All EVMs will be taken out from the strong room at the scheduled time and taken to the counting hall under tight security. The ECI has directed all district election officers to strictly follow its guidelines.
A special inspection team from the ECI headquarters recently reviewed all the strong rooms. During the inspection, a minor technical fault in the CCTV display at one center was immediately rectified.
The official said all the cameras are now fully functional and video feeds have been shown to the representatives of the contesting candidates.
To increase reliability, backup power grids have been installed at each monitoring centre.
The official said a total of 35 complaints about strong rooms were received during the two phases of voting – five in the first phase and 30 in the second phase – and all were resolved immediately.
Dedicated monitoring cells were set up at the district and state levels to deal with these issues.
For the vote counting process, 1,050 officers and staff are being trained in two phases – the first session has already been held on November 10, and the second is scheduled for November 13.
On the day of counting, security will be jointly managed by the Central Armed Forces and the District Police through a three-tier cordon – the first cordon will protect the strong room, the second cordon will protect the counting hall, and the third cordon will maintain order in the outer perimeter of all the centres.
Officials said all arrangements are being constantly reviewed to ensure fair, transparent and incident-free counting on November 14.
–IANS
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