Swab collected ahead of counting in Erode Updated: Updated: Share Article AAA With the Election Commission making it mandatory for candidates and agents to have either negative COVID-19 test results or both doses of vaccine for entering the counting halls on May 2, swab test for COVID-19 were conducted for politicians, agents, election officials and mediapersons here on Thursday. Counting of votes for all the eight Assembly constituencies will take place on Sunday at the Institute of Road Transport and Technology (IRTT) at Chithode and at Gobi Arts and Science College at Gobichettipalayam. In view of the second wave of pandemic, strict norms were laid down to ensure virus do not spread during counting of votes. Politicians and agents were asked to produce negative RT-PCR reports or vaccination reports within 48 hours of the start of counting. Since many were not vaccinated, they preferred swab tests, which took place at all the constituencies in the district.