City prepares for a decisive Tuesday with extensive arrangements and traffic diversions
Police officials stationed outside the Bombay Exhibition Centre (NESCO) in Goregaon East on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde
All set for D-Day. Here’s how the city is preparing for counting day. The political picture of Mumbai will become clear by lunchtime on Tuesday. Postal ballot counting will start at 8 am, followed by the counting of EVM votes at 8.30 am.
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Vote counting for Mumbai’s 6 Lok Sabha constituencies will be conducted at four locations. The Bombay Exhibition Centre (NESCO) in Goregaon will handle the counts for North Mumbai, North West, and North Central constituencies. Udayachal School in Vikhroli will host the count for the North East constituency. South Central and South Mumbai constituencies will have their counts at the Sewri warehouse.
Officials stated that counting will be organised by each assembly constituency, with 18 to 24 rounds of counting expected per constituency.
In the assembly section, 14 tables will be used for counting, each staffed with a micro observer, counting supervisor, assistant, and peon. At Vikhroli, 7 halls are designated for counting: 6 for EVM votes and 1 for ballot paper votes. Each hall will have 14 tables, totalling 99 tables at the centre. The counting process will be conducted in 22 rounds, with 800 officials present. Additionally, 500 to 600 police personnel will be deployed alongside ECI officials.
8 am
Time counting will start
Traffic restrictions
Out of the three counting centres, the traffic division has issued guidelines and traffic diversions for two counting centres.
M Ramkumar, additional commissioner of police (Traffic) said, “Northbound traffic on the Western Express Highway from Jay Coach junction to NESCO gap at Goregaon is banned for vehicles, apart from those of the ECI and counting officials.” He added, “Similarly, the northbound traffic on Khan Abdul Gafar Marg, Sewri, from Bindu Madhav Thackrey junction to J K Kapoor junction (Prabhadevi), will be banned for vehicular traffic. Only vehicles moving northbound from Bindu Madhav Thackeray Junction towards the Bandra-Worli Sea Link will be permitted." These restrictions will be in effect from 5 am to 6 pm on Tuesday. The additional commissioner also disclosed, “There was no need for traffic diversions at Godrej Centre in Vikhroli, and hence, no diversions have been imposed there.”