Termites on ballot papers halt counting process

Hyderabad: Despite the State Election Commission’s (SEC) instructions to safeguard ballot boxes after May 31 polling, ballot papers in some places were found eaten up by termites forcing the election authoriteis to stop counting of votes. In Jayashankar-Bhoopalpally, ballot papers belonging to booth numbers 44 and 105 of Ambatpally MPTC and booth No. 39 of Suraram were damaged by white ants.
Since the booth numbers were linked to Mahadevpur ZPTC seat, the authorities stopped the counting. The district election authorities have sent a report to the SEC for taking further action. Similarly, counting of votes could not be taken up in CC Kunta and Ammapur villages in Mahbubnagar as rainwater entered the ballot boxes. Officials said ballot boxes were kept in a school.