The counting of votes for 90- seats of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will take place on Tuesday amid tight security arrangements.
In Srinagar, the counting using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) would be taken up at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the Dal Lake, officials said.
In Jammu, counting will take place at Padmashree Padma Sachdev College for Women Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, Govt MAM College, Jammu and Govt Polytechnic College, Bikram Chowk, Jammu.
All the Deputy Commissioners of the 20 districts of the Union Territory have put in place facilities at vote counting centres, officials said.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pandurang K Pole emphasised on transparency, promising that efforts shall be made to ensure that both media and public stay informed of the election results as they unfold.
He directed officials to ensure that all necessary measures are implemented in strict accordance with the guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Only authorised counting agents of contesting candidates and staff posted on counting duty will be allowed inside the counting halls.
The tally of votes for each candidate will be announced after every round of counting on the public address system outside the counting halls, an official said.
All the parties including the National Conference (NC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) have named their counting agents to oversee the process at various centres..
The NC and Congress alliance have claimed they would get absolute majority. A similar claim was made by the BJP.
The exit polls suggested that the NC and the Congress may emerge as the largest bloc in the 90-member Assembly.
The three-phase Assembly elections, the first in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade, witnessed record voter turnout on September 18, 25 and October 1.
The first Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir post Article 370 abrogation witnessed a voter turnout of 63.45 per cent.
The fate of 873 candidates vying for a seat in the 90-member House will be known tomorrow.
Prominent among those in the fray are NC leader Omar Abdullah (contesting from Budgam and Ganderbal assembly segments), Sajad Gani Lone of People’s Conference (from Handwara and Kupwara seats), Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra (Batamaloo) and BJP state president Ravindra Raina (Nowshera seat).
The other notable contestants are AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Dooru), PDP leaders Waheed Para (Pulwama), Iltija Mufti (Bijbehara), Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari (Chanapora), CPI(M) veteran Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (Kulgam) and former deputy chief ministers Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tara Chand.