Before the counting of votes, when the opposition raised questions on postal ballots, the Election Commission explained the entire law, know what it said

New Delhi : Less than 24 hours are left for the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections to begin. Before the counting, the opposition group India Alliance met the Election Commission. The issue related to the counting of postal ballots was raised before the Election Commission on behalf of India Alliance. The Election Commission was urged to ensure that the postal ballots are counted and their results are declared before the results of the 'Electronic Voting Machine' (EVM) on June 4. They also stressed that the Election Commission should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure their implementation. On this, the Election Commission responded on behalf of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar during a press conference on Monday.

Postal ballots will be counted first

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the rule of the postal ballot scheme is 54A which was started in 1954. At that time there were not many postal ballots. Senior citizens and Divyang people were not included in the postal ballot. Gradually this number is increasing. It is necessary for the overall election that we increase this facility. Rajiv Kumar said that journalists were also given the facility of postal ballot. People associated with essential services should also get the facility of postal ballot. He said that in this regard, it is clearly stated in the rule that the postal ballot will be counted first. Therefore, it will be counted first at all the centers across the country. There is no doubt about it. EVM counting will start after half an hour. He said that the same thing happened in the 2019 general elections. The same thing happened in the assembly elections held after that and even in the elections of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim on Sunday.

This process has been going on for 70 years

Kumar had accepted all the demands of the multi-party delegation that met the commission on Sunday and said that the issues raised by them were part of the election process that has been going on for seven decades. Kumar said that the multi-party delegation had put forward some demands. We accepted all their demands. He indicated that most of the issues raised by the multi-party delegation were part of the election manual. Kumar said that this process has been going on for 70 years. We have given instructions to every election officer/assistant election officer. These are our orders and this is not a joke… Everyone has been instructed to follow the handbook/rules.

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64.2 crore people cast their votes, creating a world record

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said India had set a world record with the participation of 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, in the Lok Sabha elections. The world's largest polling process involved over 68,000 monitoring teams and over 1.5 crore polling and security personnel. Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest voter turnout in four decades – 58.58 per cent overall and 51.05 per cent in the Valley.