NEW DELHI: Ahead of the counting of votes on Tuesday, leaders of the INDIA bloc approached the Election Commission with multiple demands, emphasising the need to count and declare postal ballot numbers first in accordance with statutory rules.
A delegation led by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi highlighted several critical issues with pressing concerns to ensure transparency and fairness in the electoral process.
During a press briefing, Singhvi stressed the importance of adhering to Rule 54A of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which mandated that postal ballots be counted before the votes from EVMs. The poll body had reaffirmed this procedure in writing in 2019, he said.
Singhvi criticised the EC for seemingly bypassing this rule, suggesting that the EVM counting could commence and results be declared before postal ballots were fully processed. “You cannot change a statutory rule by a guideline or a letter,” Singhvi asserted, calling this practice a “grave and clear violation”. He warned that the margins of votes between main contending parties could differ significantly between EVMs and postal ballots, potentially affecting the election outcomes.
They also sought the display of poll dates, candidates and total votes before announcing candidate-wise results. This was the third multi-party delegation to meet with the Chief Election Commissioner during the elections, reflecting the critical nature of these concerns.