New Delhi. Leaders of the opposition ‘India’ alliance on Sunday urged the Election Commission to ensure that postal ballots are counted and their results are declared before the results of the ‘Electronic Voting Machines’ (EVMs) on June 4. They also stressed that the Election Commission should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure their implementation.
Ahead of the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, a delegation of leaders of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIAN) met the full bench of the Election Commission on Sunday. After the meeting, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that this is the third time that a delegation of opposition leaders has visited the Election Commission during the general elections. Singhvi said that the delegation, among other things, urged the officials to ensure that postal ballots are counted and their results are declared before the EVM results are announced.
The Congress leader said, “This is the third multi-party delegation to visit the Election Commission during this (election) process… We discussed two-three major issues with the Commission. Among these, the most important is – counting the postal ballots and declaring their results first. This is a very clear statutory rule, which provides that you should count the postal ballots first.” He said, “Our complaint is that this guideline has been bypassed. They have broken this tradition.”
In a letter submitted to the Commission, the leaders said the number of postal ballots had increased significantly in the Lok Sabha elections as senior citizens (aged 85 years and above) and persons with disabilities were allowed to vote through this process.
He cited various rules and guidelines, including the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 and the Handbook for Returning Officers and Counting Agents (August 2023) which state that postal ballots will be counted first.
The second letter, signed by 13 opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, said though political parties have made a lot of efforts to train their counting agents, counting officials often fail to understand all aspects of the counting process.
Giving details of the opposition’s demands, Yechury said the leaders have urged the Election Commission to ensure that its own guidelines are implemented, which include moving the EVM control unit through a CCTV-monitored corridor and ensuring verification of the current date and time display on the control unit.
He said, “This verification is important because unless it is done, there is no authenticity that it is the same control unit that came from the polling station and has not been replaced.” The CPI(M) leader also said that the time and date of the start and end of the voting process should be checked on the ‘control unit’.
He said, “The slip and tag put on the EVM at the time of sealing it should be shown to all the counting agents for verification. After pressing the button for the results, the date of voting should not be confirmed again – it should be ensured.” In their letter, the opposition leaders have said that the feedback received from their counting agents of previous elections indicates that these slips and tags were not shown to them and when they requested to show it, the counting personnel asked for any written rule or circular stating that these details must be shown to them.
In the second letter, there is also an emphasis on counting the postal ballots first. Apart from Kharge, Pawar and Yechury, the signatories to this letter include Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)’s TR Balu, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav and National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah.
On Saturday, the leaders of the ‘India’ alliance met here to discuss their strategy for the counting day (June 4), though the Trinamool Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stayed away. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who chaired the meeting, had said they would meet Election Commission officials on Sunday to discuss certain issues. Opposition parties have asked their agents to keep a close watch on the counting process on Tuesday and ensure that Form 17C is shared with them. Form 17C records the number of votes cast at each polling station.