NEW DELHI: A delegation of INDIA bloc leaders on Sunday met with the Election Commission of India over polling norms and also asked them to ensure that the laid down procedures are followed on the day of Lok Sabha elections results scheduled on June 4.
After meeting with the poll panel, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This is the third multi-party delegation that went to the Election Commission during this entire election process.We came here with many issues, the most important of them was the postal ballot counting and declaring its result first.”
“The statutory rule of the Election Commission clearly says that postal ballots should be dealt with first, and their results will be declared ahead of EVM results. The Election Commission has repealed this practice, and this is a very grave and clear violation of the statutory rule. It is therefore vital that the spirit that underlies Rule 54 (a), which cannot be amended or repealed, must be followed,” he added.
The delegation also requested the poll body to instruct its officials to follow the guidelines.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said they have urged the poll panel to ensure that its own guidelines are implemented, which includes ensuring that the control units of the EVMs are moved through CCTV-monitored corridors and a verification of the current date-and-time display of the control units is done.
“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 also said 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. After pressing the button for the results, reconfirming the date of poll is not done … that has to be ensured,” he said.
The opposition parties have asked their party workers to closely monitor the vote-counting process on June 4 and ensure that form 17C, which contains the number of votes recorded at each polling station, is shared with them.
After meeting with the poll panel, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This is the third multi-party delegation that went to the Election Commission during this entire election process.We came here with many issues, the most important of them was the postal ballot counting and declaring its result first.”
“The statutory rule of the Election Commission clearly says that postal ballots should be dealt with first, and their results will be declared ahead of EVM results. The Election Commission has repealed this practice, and this is a very grave and clear violation of the statutory rule. It is therefore vital that the spirit that underlies Rule 54 (a), which cannot be amended or repealed, must be followed,” he added.
The delegation also requested the poll body to instruct its officials to follow the guidelines.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said they have urged the poll panel to ensure that its own guidelines are implemented, which includes ensuring that the control units of the EVMs are moved through CCTV-monitored corridors and a verification of the current date-and-time display of the control units is done.
“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 also said 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. After pressing the button for the results, reconfirming the date of poll is not done … that has to be ensured,” he said.
The opposition parties have asked their party workers to closely monitor the vote-counting process on June 4 and ensure that form 17C, which contains the number of votes recorded at each polling station, is shared with them.
