The story so far: The world’s largest and most costly democratic event is nearly at the end of its seven-phase journey. Votes on June 4, India will get ready to announce the verdict of the 2024 General Elections. Barricades will be erected, ballot boxes uncapped, paper trails of EVMs crosschecked, results squared and declared — a judgment that will change the contour of the 543-Constituency map. As States gear up for counting day, The Hindu breaks down what will unfold in unison on June 4.
Who does count?
From the Files: Inside the Counting Venue at Swarna Bharati Indoor Stadium on the night preceding the announcement of Assembly and Parliamentary election results in Visakhapatnam on 15th May, 2009.
The day and time for counting are determined by the Election Commission of India. The officer presiding over elections and vote-counting here is named a Returning Officer (RO) for a Parliamentary Constituency who pronounces where to count votes. Usually, ECI appoints such an RO together with State Government who may be an employee of government or an officer representing local authority. It is often held either in that constituency’s government schools, colleges or at the headquarters of RO. Assisting ROs are Assistant Returning Officers (ARO) per Constituency. At one table RO counts postal ballots while ARO takes care of EVM counting at another table.
Photo: Election Commission of India
The Counting is overseen by the Process Agents. An observer each at each table and one supervisor during counting are needed for ECI. Behind barricades or wire mesh, tables are installed for counting so that the EVMs cannot be physically approached by the agents but their actions can be watched.
According to the handbook of ECI, Counting Agents are selected through three-stage randomization in order to ensure impartiality. J Radhakrishnan, Corporation Commissioner tells newsmen that in Chennai alone 1433 officers were selected for this process this year (357 micro-observers, 374 counting supervisors, 380 counting assistants and 322 office assistants). In the second phase of randomization officers will be notified about respective centers followed by a final draw of agents on main counting day.
From the Archives: Randomisation of micro-observers, counting supervisors and counting assistants underway for Virudhunagar Parliamentary constituency at Virudhunagar on May 15, 2014.
One part of training is to properly check the Special Tag, the Green Paper Seals and important seals attached to the carrying case and Control Unit of EVMs, ensuring that they are intact without being interfered with.
From the Archives: Training Programme of Vote Counting Personnel in Mysore on May 13, 2014.
How is the count done?
The counting hall has fourteen parallel tables. During simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections, first seven tables are used for counting votes for assembly elections; the remaining ones are engaged in parliamentary election
Vote counting will commence at 8 a.m. under direct supervision of RO. According to ECI’s ‘Handbook for Counting Agents’, counting commences by enlisting postal ballots (Both Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers and normal postal ballot papers). “the EVM counting can start and continue, irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting,” says the handbook after 30 minutes. Control Units (CU)of EVMs where votes are cast are brought from polling stations to the counting hall and dispersed amongst the count tables.’ The Number of Votes Polled’ as shown in Form-17C means that Indicated by Account which was given in form of votes polled at a polling station. In its middle part, CU has two buttons — ‘Result’ and ‘Print’. Further inside is the Result button which is located just behind green paper seal; once it has been pierced through with a pointed object such as pin or needle, then pressing this button should reveal total number of votes polled per candidate along with NOTA automatically .
Verified from the Archives: This is an image of Observers in Krishnagiri verifying EVMs where the labels of candidates’ names and their symbols were pasted on, May 8, 2009.
The counting takes place in stages; the leads shown in news reports indicate the results from 14 EVMs at each interval. According to ECI, Control Units for the next round only need to be brought onto the counting tables once after completion of previous round’s count. It may continue for many more cycles as needed, officials there have said they are ready with preparations for one hundred and forty rounds of accounting if it gets extended that much.
The voting process was concluded on the 10th May, 2009 as election officials installed Braille alphabet sheets on electronic voting machines for visually impaired persons at an election office in Chennai, Presidency Girls Higher Secondary School in Egmore.
Once the counting of EVMs is done, the process of adding up VVPAT slips begins. The voter verifiable paper audit trails for seven seconds reveals the name and party symbol which are included in these registers. This can be stored inside it to check if what was printed adds up to what comes out after counting votes through EVMs. The confirmation takes place in a secure VVPAT Counting Booth located in the counting hall (as soon as EVM counting is done any of the tables can be changed into a booth).
Earlier on, there was a physical verification of only one random VVPAT slip among all those contained in every segment/constituency according to ECI guideline 16.6. Then later Supreme Court directed verification of five such machines across each assembly segment within Parliamentary constituency making it about 25-50 per PC. After that stage if satisfied he may declare RO’s final constituency result upon its completion.
Figure 2: EVM components.
The security and surveillance levels are high in the counting center. “Every activity during the counting will be video recorded. The process of counting will start at 5 am in the morning. There will be some barricades set up at a distance of 100 meters from the area where counting is taking place,” said Andhra Pradesh official M. Vijaya Suneetha last week, adding that central security forces would be deployed to strongrooms and counting centres. No electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, tablets and calculators are allowed into halls for the entire duration of the count
From the files: Arrangements were made to count at Syed Ammal Engineering College in Ramanathapuram on May 15, 2009.
What if there is inconsistency in the data?
In case the number of votes on CUs and paper slips is not matching, then ECI mandates that printed paper slips are taken into account, the outcome of which becomes final under rule 56(D) (4)(b) of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. It is unclear what step ECI would take if there is a mismatch in counting one out of five VVPATs.
According to a handbook released by the ECI: “Although we have eliminated the need for recounting through use of voting machines, Rule 63 in the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 still applies to constituencies.”
A candidate or their election agent or any of the counting agents can write to the RO giving grounds for recount of votes recorded at all or any polling stations. The decision lies with the RO: “He/she may allow the application in whole or in part if it is reasonable, or he/she may reject it in toto if it appears to be frivolous or unreasonable. The decision of Returning Officer will be final,” says ECI.
This year some Opposition parties as well as civil society actors and activists have voiced doubts about transparency within ECI and its commitment towards free and fair elections. Late uploading of polling station-wise voter turnout data by ECIs and contradictions between initial figure turnouts and final figures has aroused concerns over possible manipulations during counting stage.
#WATCH | Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal says “You all know that the voting results will be out on the 4th June. I want to make the public and political parties aware that when these machines (EVMs) open up? Then I have prepared this chart for all parties; All…
On May 26, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal announced a checklist for political parties and candidates on counting day aimed at promoting vigilance.“There’s been lots of people saying that these machines could be tampered with. It’s just that nothing more should happen to them,” noted Mr. Sibal. He advised that parties keep an eye on the time the machine was opened, and match the serial number of the CU before and after pressing ‘Result’ button. The total votes polled must also align with the number mentioned in Form 17C Part I. He added, “Don’t press result button until verification is done in above column & if there is any discrepancy between that timing and timing of result then something is wrong.”
