Election Commission streamlines process of counting postal ballots

Penultimate round of EVM/VVPAT counting to now be taken up only after the counting of postal ballots is completed

New Delhi: Streamlining the process of counting postal ballots, the Election Commission on Thursday reversed its 2019 order and said the penultimate round of EVM/VVPAT counting will now be taken up only after the counting of postal ballots is completed.

The 2019 order has mandated that the second-last round of EVM counting "would not be stopped" till the completion of postal ballot counting, and the EVM counting could go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting.

According to the Handbook for Counting Agents 2023, the EVM counting can go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting, and once the EVM counting is completed, the VVPAT slips counting can start as per the prescribed procedure.

The Election Commission's latest decision comes as the Opposition parties have long been demanding that the poll body return to the earlier practice of finishing the counting of postal ballots before the end of the EVM counting.

Just before the counting of votes of the Lok Sabha elections, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc had demanded that the postal ballots should be counted first, and only then the EVM counting should start.

Usually, the counting of postal ballots starts at 8 am and the EVM counting at 8:30 am. The Election Commission said the EVM counting could theoretically go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting, and the chances of it getting completed before the completion of postal ballot counting cannot be ruled out, as per earlier guidelines.

"Although, counting of postal ballots generally gets completed before counting of EVMs, 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," an Election Commission statement said.

In letters to the Chief Electoral Officers in States and Union Territories, the Election Commission, however, made it clear that in case of a Parliamentary constituency in which counting of votes is taken at multiple centres, then the penultimate round of EVM/VVPAT counting need not stop at all the counting centres. In such a scenario, the EVM counting at a centre where the postal ballots are counted only need to be stopped.