Ahead of the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the delegations of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the INDIA bloc met with the full bench of the Election Commission of India on Sunday.
The meeting with the poll governing body was to ensure that all the guidelines are properly followed on the counting day.
Ahead of the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the delegations of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the INDIA bloc met with the full bench of the Election Commission of India on Sunday.
The meeting with the poll governing body was to ensure that all the guidelines are properly followed on the counting day.
A delegation of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) met the full bench of the EC, urging the poll body to ensure that postal ballots are counted and their results are declared as per the issued guidelines.
This was the third time that a delegation of the Opposition grouping visited the poll panel during the general elections.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi briefed the media after the meeting and said, "This is the third multi-party delegation visiting the EC during this process.... We spent time with the EC on two-three major issues. Most important was counting the postal ballots and declaring the results first. This is a very clearly stated statutory rule, which specifically says that you should take up the postal ballots first."
He said that the INDIA bloc parties' complaint is that "this guideline has been given a go-by", adding that "they have repealed the practice".
In a letter to the EC, the leaders said the number of postal ballots had significantly gone up in this general elections as senior citizens and differently-abled persons were allowed to cast their votes through this process.
Another letter, meanwhile, said that even though political parties put in a lot of efforts to train their counting agents, the officials often fail to completely understand the aspects of the process.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury expanded on the Opposition group's demands and said the leaders have requested the poll body to ensure that its own guidelines are implemented.
"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," he said.
Yechury further added, "The slips and tags that are put when an EVM is sealed should be shown to all the counting agents for verification. After pressing the button for the results, reconfirming the date of polling is not done...that has to be ensured."
Notably, the opposition parties asked their polling agents to monitor the vote-counting process closely on Tuesday and ensure that form 17C, which contains the number of votes recorded at each polling station, is shared with them.
A BJP delegation comprising Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal met with the Election Commission, urging them to prevent any attempts of "violence and unrest" during the vote counting on June 4.
It also urged the poll-governing body to take cognisance of the "systematic attempts" being made to undermine the process and initiate strict action against those responsible.
The saffron camp's delegation said that the Congress and the INDIA bloc constituents as well as other groups are trying to undermine the nation's electoral process.
After the meeting, Goyal told reporters, "We had to call upon the Election Commission today in light of the repeated attempts by a section of political parties, like the Congress and their INDI alliance partners, and also by certain motivated civil society groups and NGOs who are trying their level best to undermine the integrity of India's electoral process."
The delegation asked the EC to ensure that improved monitoring and security measures be put in place on June 4.
"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 can not accept a popular leader of the masses who has delivered for the wellbeing of 1.4 billion Indians," Goyal added.
Notably, the exit polls on Saturday projected a third term for the Narendra Modi-led government, with a majority of over 370 seats.
(With PTI)