The counting of votes for UP panchayat elections 2021 began on Sunday after the Supreme Court on Saturday refused to stay the process of vote counting. The Supreme Court also directed that there will be a strict curfew in the entire state till Tuesday morning and no victory rallies will be permitted.
In a special urgent hearing on a court holiday, a bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and Hrishikesh Roy passed the order after taking note of several notifications and assurances of the SEC that the COVID-19 protocols will be followed at all the 829 counting centres.
What happened in the court hearing
Earlier, during the hearing on Saturday, the Supreme Court pulled up the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission and said 'heavens will not fall' if the counting is deferred considering the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The State Election Commission (SEC) assured the apex court saying the candidates and their agents will be allowed to enter the counting centres only if they have tested negative for COVID-19 in the 48 hours prior to the commencement of the counting process or have taken both doses of the vaccine.
The court accepted the UP government's assurances that rules will be changed to make the COVID-19 test mandatory for all candidates and officials at the counting centres.
The Supreme Court directed the officials to save the CCTV footage of all the counting centres.
Timings for counting
The counting of votes will begin at 8 am and the initial electoral trends will come between 10 am and 11 am. At around 5 pm, the whole picture will be clear about who are the winners.
Where to check for updates
You can go to the official website of the Election Commission, where you will find the complete list of winners and other important updates related to the result.
Apart from this, you can visit the social media page of the Election Commission where you will get the updates as and when they tweet.
