Lok Sabha elections: INDIA bloc places demands before ECI for counting day

New Delhi: A delegation of INDIA bloc met the Election Commission of India brass on Sunday and sought measures, including early counting of ballot papers, strict monitoring of EVMs, counting of VVPATs and proper dispersal of Form 17Cs at the counting station besides the official adhering to all stated rules.

The delegation, comprising Abhishek Singhvi, Salman Khurshid (Congress), TR Baalu (DMK), Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Sitaram Yechury, D Raja (Left) and others, demanded that ECI stick to the statutory rule and end its recent practice of not completing the counting and declaring results of postal ballots before the completion of counting of EVM votes.

"Rule 54(A), specifically says you (ECI) shall take up and deal with postal ballots first. This has been understood by ECI over the years and particularly this has been elaborated by ECI in 2019 in writing that even if you start EVM counting, while the postal ballot counting is going on, even then you shall stop EVM counting if it is reached the end and first declare the postal ballots counting result. Our complaint is that this statutory rule and the 2019 guideline have been given the go by... The net result is that by a method of practice, EVMs can be counted, and if EVM counting gets over before the postal ballot it will still be completed... Postal ballot counting and results need not be declared first. This is a very grave violation of the statutory rule. You can't change a statutory rule by a guideline or a letter," Singhvi told the media.