The counting of votes for the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh began on Thursday morning with a three-layer security in place and cameras﷽ installed at all centres.
"The counting in all 75 districts of the state began 🌠at 8 am with postal ballots being counted first," a senior election officialꩲ said.
VVPAT (voter-verified♍ paper audit trail) slips of five machines will be counted in every Assembly constituency.
T♓he official said cameras have been installed at all counting centres.
"Adequate AROs (assistant returning officers) have been deployed in every Assembly constituency for interruption-free counting," the senior official said, adding the necessaryꦓ Covid protocol is also being maintai♉ned.
Security arrangements have been put in place and senior officials are maintaꦑining a close watch on the counting process, especially after some political parties raised some objections, he said.
A three-layer security has been set up. This includes the central police forces, provinci🔯al armed cons🐻tabulary and the state police. the official said.
Police said 250 CAPF companies have been deployed. A CAPF company usually has around 70-80 personne🐭l.
As many as 625 gazetted officers of the UP Po♒lice, 1,807 inspectors, 9,598 sub-inspectors, 11,627 head constables and 48,649 constables have also been deployed, the officials added.
The model code of conduct for the elections had co🉐me into force🐻 on January 8.
Whil☂e the BJP is trying to ret💫ain its power, the Samajwadi Party has emerged as a major contender in the elections.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of trying to "steal votes" and claimed that a truck carrying EVMs was "intercepted" in Var🌄anasi.
The Election Commission clarified that the machines were for the training of officials on counting duty and ♋were not us🧸ed in elections.
All exit polls after the end of voting on March 7 had shown the BJP returning to power in Uttar Pradesh. They predicted an increase in tally for the Samajဣw🌞adi Party but not enough seats to form government.
The exit polls forecast two-digit seats for the BSP while Congress count to be in single digi𓄧t.
In 2017, the BJP-le🌟d 🦹alliance had won 325 seats, the SP 47, BSP 19 and the Congress seven.
