Ahead of counting for votes polled in Lok Sabha elections 2024 on June 4, a delegation of INDIA bloc leaders on Sunday urged the Election Commission of India to count postal ballots first.
In their meeting with the poll body, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance leaders said that ECI should issue “clear, detailed, guidelines for the counting process.
The Opposition also sought clarification on counting postal ballots first, under the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, and ensuring CCTV-monitored safe movement of Control Units.
INDIA bloc also requested ECI to verify date/time on Control Units and confirm voting start/end times, specify slips, tags, and details for counting agents.
Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The vital importance of counting postal ballots first, and declaring the results of postal ballots first. This is very clearly stated in the statutory rule. This has been understood by the Election Commission over the years.”
“Our complaint is that this statutory rule of this 2019 guideline has been given goodbye. The Election Commission has repealed this 2019 practice. The net result is that by method of practice, EVMs can be counted and if EVMs counting gets over before the postal ballot, it will still be completed. In other words, the postal ballot counting and results need not be declared first. This is the main complaint,” he added.
Singhvi said that ECI heard them patiently. “We are awaiting strong action,” he said.
Sitaram Yechury also said that postal ballots should be counted first on the counting day. “The demands were that until the 2019 election, the procedure and the law were that first the postal ballots would be counted and announced, and after that, the EVM counting would begin. We are saying that it should be followed,” Yechury told ANI.
Congress leader Ajay Maken flagged the new rule that candidates’ counting agents are not allowed at the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) tables during the vote counting process on June 4.
The final phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded on Saturday, marking the end of the world’s largest polling exercise that began on April 19.
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Published: 02 Jun 2024, 09:33 PM IST
