Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission (EC), polling for all seven phases will begin at 8 am. Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar clarified that counting of postal ballots will start first at all counting centres and said there was no doubt about it. Responding to questions at a press conference, he said the counting of votes recorded in electronic voting machines will begin half an hour after the counting of postal ballots begins. A delegation of opposition parties had met the commission on Sunday demanding that the counting of postal ballots should begin first and the results of postal ballots should be declared first.
Postal ballots will be counted first
The CEC said that the rules clearly say (Rule 54A) that the counting of postal ballots will start first. It will start first at all centres across the country, no doubt about it. After half an hour we start the EVM counting. So, there are three counting which is happening simultaneously – it happened in the 2019 elections, it happened in all the assembly elections held after that. It also happened in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim assembly (counting) yesterday. Can we not make a change, because it is in line with the rules. Since 2019, for greater transparency, the VVPAT (paper-trail machine) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency (or segment in case of Lok Sabha seats) are matched with the EVM count. Under Rule 54A of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, the counting of postal ballots starts first at the Returning Officer’s (RO) table. Only the Control Unit (CU) of the EVM used at the polling station along with Form 17C is required for counting of votes.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024
Let us tell you that the general elections were held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, 2024 to elect all 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared. The Election Commission said that the counting trends and results will be available on the ECI website Results.eci.gov.in as well as the Voter Helpline App. Exit polls have predicted that the ruling BJP-led NDA is set to perform better than its 2019 record when it won 352 seats. Two surveys estimated that the BJP has also improved its tally from the 303 seats it won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
