KOTTAYAM: The counting of votes in the Puthuppally by-election will take place from 8 a.m. today at the counting centre set up in the Kottayam Baselios College Auditorium. The strong room of Baselios College, where the voting machines are kept, will be opened at 7:30 a.m. The counting of postal votes will begin at 8 o'clock.

The counting of votes is done in a total of 20 tables. 14 tables will count voting machine votes, five tables will count postal votes and one table will count ETPBS votes for service voters. There are 182 booths in total. The votes in the voting machine in booths 1 to 182 are counted in 13 rounds. Five VVs are then randomly selected. The slips in the pat machines will be counted.There will be 74 counting officers. 32 CAPF members are deployed for the security of the counting centre. An armed police battalion will also provide security.