A day after voting ended in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections, a delegation of INDIA Block leaders reached the Election Commission office on Sunday and met the full bench. Congress leaders and lawyers Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Salman Khurshid along with D Raja, Samajwadi Party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav, Sanjay Yadav, Nasir Hussain and Salman Khurshid reached the Election Commission. Sitaram Yechury also reached the Election Commission office along with other leaders.
After the meeting, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that this is the third time the block leaders have met the ECI. He said that the delegation met with some complaints. According to him, there is a statutory rule to count postal ballots first. However, the Election Commission has repealed the rule and now EVMs can be counted first. Expressing concern over this, Singhvi said, ‘The result is that EVMs can be counted by practice method and even if the EVM counting ends before the postal ballot, it will still be completed. In other words, there is no need to count the postal ballot and declare the result first… This is the main complaint… They heard us patiently and we are waiting for strict action.”
Meanwhile, Yechury informed the media about the meeting and said that he has told the Election Commission that the counting should be done as per the rules. There should be verification of CCTV monitors, control units. Also, the data coming from the machine should be confirmed. When the EVMs are sealed, it should be reconfirmed during counting in front of the counting agents. Apart from this, Congress leader Salman Khurshid also demanded vigilance during counting and called the meeting promising. Khurshid said, “We requested very strict monitoring during the counting process and they gave us a satisfactory answer… We did not question any rules, but ensured that they are followed and followed honestly. The meeting has been very promising.”
