Ahead of the announcement of the results of the 2024 Indian general elections on June 4, the Election Commission of India has issued a set of instructions to all election officials on the procedure to be followed for counting machine votes electronic voting, VVPAT and postal ballots. for India’s 2024 general elections, as well as by-elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, news agency ANI reported.
In accordance with the general instructions issued by the electoral body, the district election officers, returning officers (ROs) and observers will ensure that the existing instructions related to counting arrangements in and around the counting centers have been complied with. fully before the counting of votes at the indicated time. set for the purpose, ANI reported.
Counting of votes from a constituency will not begin if ECI orders on postponement of voting at any polling station are pending, he said.
The counting of votes for a constituency can begin if a new vote is taken at any of the polling stations on the day of the count. In such a case, the penultimate round of counting will begin only after the re-voted EVMs and VVPATs of the said polling stations are received in the relevant counting room under full security escort, the poll body instructed, ANI reported.
The RO must read aloud the provisions of Section 128 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Rule 54 of the Electoral Conduct Rules, 1961 to maintain the secrecy of the vote. As per Rule 60 of the Rules for Conduct of Elections, 1961, counting will be continuous without any interval, he said.
No unauthorized person should be present in the counting room. As per Rule 53(4), the RO has the authority to order any person to leave the Counting Centre, if anyone does not obey the legal instructions of the returning officer, he added, ANI reported.
As per the instructions for counting by postal ballots, as per Rule 54A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, the counting of postal ballots will be started first at the RO table. Only postal ballots that are received by the RO before the time set for the start of counting will be accepted for counting, ANI reported.
The returning officer will provide the most recent count of the total number of postal ballots (received from facilitation centers and by postal mail) to the observer at the time of the start of the count.
The RO or one of the assistant returning officers will explain and demonstrate the requirements of a valid declaration to all counting supervisors, assistants and micro-observers before the postal ballot envelopes are distributed to each of the counting tables and real scrutiny. of the counting supervisor’s statement, the instructions read.
The RO will ensure that there are no undue delays in scrutiny of returns by AROs and scrutiny supervisors. All cases of postal ballot rejection due to defects in the Declaration in Form-13A need to be re-verified by the Returning Officer before they are actually included in the rejected category, he said, ANI reported.
The observer will closely monitor the postal vote counting process, especially the scrutiny of the declaration in Form 13A. When submitting the count report after the declaration of the result, the observer shall include in it a detailed description of the procedure followed for the count by mail. This must specifically mention the total number of postal ballots received for counting, the number of postal ballots rejected, the number of tables provided for the counting of postal ballots and the total time necessary for the counting. scrutiny of postal ballots, ANI reported.
The electoral body has also issued other instructions for counting votes using postal ballots.
Voting to elect the 543-member Lok Sabha was held simultaneously with Assembly elections in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. While the long voting process, which took place in seven phases of India’s 2024 general elections, concluded on Saturday, the counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.
(With contributions from ANI)