The INDIA bloc on Sunday urged the Election Commission to revoke its 2019 guidelines, which removed the provision requiring returning officers to declare the postal ballot results before the final counting of the votes polled with the Electronic Voting Machines.

Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Tuesday.

On May 18, 2019, the Election Commission withdrew the earlier guidelines, which said that the counting of votes polled with Electronic Voting Machines should be finalised only after the counting of postal ballots is completed. Instead, it told all chief electoral officers that Electronic Voting Machine counting “can go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting”.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Election Commission on Sunday, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said that this was the third time that a delegation of Opposition leaders had met the poll panel during the Lok Sabha elections.

“We presented two to three important issues in front of the elections, the most important being the counting of postal ballots,” said Singhvi. “Postal ballots can swing the election results and can prove decisive.”

The Congress leader pointed out that the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, states that the returning officer has to begin the process of counting postal ballots first.

“However, the Election Commission altered this statutory rule through guidelines,” he said. “As a result, it is no longer required to declare the postal ballot results first. But statutory rules cannot be changed via guidelines. For a level-playing field, it is important that the old rules are followed.”

In the 2019 general elections, postal ballots constituted 0.37% (22.71 lakh) of the total valid 60.76 crore votes that were polled, according to The Indian Express. The number is expected to rise this time because of the introduction of the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System.

The Opposition delegation also told the Election Commission on Sunday the control units of the Electronic Voting Machines be moved through CCTV-monitored corridors and the date and time displayed on them are verified.

“This verification is important because unless it is done, there is no authenticity that it is the same control unit that came from the polling booth, that it has not been changed,” said Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury.

He also said that the start and end time and date of the polling process should be checked on the control unit.

“The slips and tags that are put when an EVM is sealed should be shown to all the counting agents for verification,” said Yechury.

BJP approaches poll panel

The Bharatiya Janata Party also approached the Election Commission on Sunday, alleging that the Opposition INDIA bloc and some civil society groups were trying to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, PTI reported.

The delegation included Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal.

They urged the poll panel to ensure enhanced monitoring and security measures are in place during the counting of votes to prevent “any attempts at violence or unrest”.

“I think the mandate given by the people of India both in 2014 and 2019, and the likely mandate of the 2024 general elections, expected on June 4, has unnerved the Opposition parties and certain non-governmental organisations, so-called civil society groups, who cannot accept a popular leader of the masses who has delivered for the wellbeing of 1.4 billion Indians,” said Goyal after the meeting.

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