Thursday, February 17 2005 20:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Realising a long gap, the Election Commission (EC) today (Feb 17, 2005) decided to prepone to February 23 the counting of votes in Haryana Assembly poll which was held on Feb 3, 2005.

The counting, which was originally scheduled for February 27 along with Bihar and Jharkhand Assembly polls, would start at 1600 hours (IST), EC said in a press note this evening.

The rescheduling of the counting of votes in Haryana has been felt in view of long gap between the polling that took place on February 3 and the counting.

It was also felt that the security forces could be utilised during counting in Bihar and Jharkhand, EC sources said.

The delayed counting had come under attack from Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala saying it hampered the developmental and routine works.

In the case of counting of votes of polling stations where re-poll has been ordered for February 23, the counting of votes would be taken at the last round of counting of votes of the respective Assembly constituencies after the repoll was completed and the EVMs are sealed as per procedure, the press note added.

Chautala has welcomed EC's decision to prepone the counting.