Strict vigil at counting centres
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, Nov 26 — The Election Commission today ordered a repoll in 118 polling stations, mainly in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where voting for the assembly poll was held yesterday.

The repoll would be held tomorrow, commission officials said here.

A repoll would also be held at four stations in Bihar's Seohar Assembly constituency and two in the Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat where byelections were held simultaneously.

Sixtyeight of the 118 stations where the repoll would be held were in Madhya Pradesh and a majority of them were in Bhind district where three persons were killed and many injured in firing between rival groups.

In Rajasthan, there would be a repoll in 44 polling stations in 19 assembly constituencies.

The commission said the repoll percentage worked out to a mere 0.11 and indicated the elections were conducted peacefully.

It said polling was held yesterday at 1,11,331 polling stations spread across Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram and elso byelections to 14 seats in eight states.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements have been made at all counting centres in Delhi.

The 11 centres are spread across the city. The counting of votes will begin on the morning of November 28 and results are expected to trickle in later in the day.

Early results are expected from the six constituencies of Gole Market, Minto Road, Sarojini Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Delhi Cantonment and Jungpura where electronics voting machines (EVMs) were used.

However, the final results were likely to be announced on Sunday, the Delhi Election Office said.

Over 10,000 personnel would be on duty at the counting centres. The ballot boxes had been kept under heavy security.

Polling was held yesterday for 69 of the 70 assembly seats. It was postponed in the Nangloi Jat constituency following the killing of Samata Party candidate Ved Singh.

The police said entry to the areas where the ballot boxes had been kept had been restricted to security personnel and party representatives.

Delhi recorded a turnout of 49.52 per cent with less than half of the 83.66 lakh voters exercising their franchise.

The Najafgarh constituency recorded the maximum turnout of 61.60 per cent while the lowest turnout of 39.93 was reported from Okhla, according to the final figures released by the election office.