Lok Sabha Elections 2024: CEC says count of postal ballots will commence first

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday said the count of postal ballots will start first across all counting centres citing the Conduct of Election Rules, insisting that "there should not be any doubt about it".

After half-an-hour of the start of the postal ballot count, Kumar said, the counting of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines will commence. His remarks came a day after a delegation of I.N.D.I.A. parties met the poll body demanding that postal ballot count should start first and the results of postal ballots should be announced first.

"Rules clearly state (Rule 54A) that postal ballot count will start first. In all centres in the country it will start first, no doubt about it. After half-an-hour we will start the EVM count. So, there are three counting which are happening simultaneously -- it happened in the 2019 elections, it happened in all the assembly polls held thereafter."

He said the process was also followed in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim assembly counting. “We can't change anything mid-course. Why can't we change, because it is compliant with the rules," he said.

After the postal ballot and the EVM are counted, he said matching of VVPT slips with EVM results will continue.

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