Thiruvananthapuram, May 4 -- All arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of the counting of votes on Monday (May 4) in the Kerala assembly elections across 140 counting centres set up at 43 locations in the state, said chief electoral officer Rathan U Kelkar on Sunday.

As always, the postal ballots will be counted first, followed by the votes registered on the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Kelkar said that the tentative polling figure in the state stood at 79.70% after factoring in the postal ballots received so far. Of the total 53,984 postal ballots issued to service voters, 20,028 ballots have been returned by May 1. The final turnout will be revealed after the Election Commission releases the Index Card, a report prepa...