The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday restored its pre-2019 rules and streamlined the process of counting of postal ballots in Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls in a bid to 'reduce delays' and 'enhance clarity'. The rules will come into effect from the Bihar assembly elections, which will be held later this year.
The counting of postal ballots begins at 8 am, and the EVM counting starts at 8.30 am. Earlier, the EVM counting could theoretically go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting and chances of it getting completed before the completion of postal ballot counting cannot be ruled out.
"In order to ensure uniformity and utmost clarity in the counting process, the Commission has decided that, henceforth, the penultimate (second last) round of EVM/VVPATs counting shall be taken up only after the counting of Postal Ballot Papers is completed, at the counting center, where postal ballot counting is being done," the EC said in its order.
"The Commission has also directed that in cases where there are a large number of postal ballots, the ROs are to ensure that sufficient number of tables and counting staff are in place so there is no delay and the counting process is further streamlined," it added.
INDIA bloc's appeal
During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA bloc had urged the poll body to go back to its pre-2019 rules, saying the postal ballots should be counted first and only then the EVM counting should be done. However, the ECI had turned down its request, saying the process cannot be changed midway through the elections.
What were the pre-2019 rules?
Before 2019, the ECI's rules stated that once the completion of postal ballot counting is withdrawn, only then the penultimate round of EVM counting should be conducted. Following this, the EVM counting gets completed, then the VVPAT slips should be counted "as per the prescribed procedure for counting VVPAT slips".
