Elections 2019: Counting tomorrow, matching VVPAT slips likely to delay results
Around 67.11% of the total 90.99 crore electors had cast their vote in the seven-phase election, the highest-ever voter turnout in Indian parliamentarian electionsFor the first time in a Lok Sabha election, the results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines
New Delhi: Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections, in which over 8,000 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats, will begin at 8.00 am on Thursday. Results are expected only by late evening due to tallying of voter verified paper audit trail slips with EVM count for the first time.
Around 67.11% of the total 90.99 crore electors had cast their vote in the seven-phase election. This is the highest-ever voter turnout in Indian parliamentarian elections.
This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.
The exercise will take place in five polling stations per assembly segment, which effectively means that out of nearly 10.3 lakh polling stations, the EVM-VVPAT matching will take place in 20,600 such stations.
The Election Commission is yet to provide the number of counting centres being set up for Thursday, saying the data is not centrally available.
According to procedure, postal ballots would be the first to be counted.
Also read: Opinion | An ideal EVM verification ratio for accurate election results
Service voters stood at 18 lakh. These include personnel of the armed forces, central police force personnel and state police personnel posted outside their constituencies. Diplomats and support staff posted in Indian embassies abroad are also counted as service voters.
Out of 18 lakh registered voters, 16.49 lakh have sent their postal ballots to their respective returning officers as on May 17.
The exercise of counting postal ballots manually will itself take a couple of hours at least, an EC official said.
The paper trail machines slips will be counted in the end.
According to the procedure, the slips will be counted first. The EVM displays would be switched on later to match the results.
In case of a mismatch, the results based in paper slip count will be considered as final.
The entire exercise of EVM-Paper trail machine matching will take an additional four to five hours.
Out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, elections were held in 542 constituencies as the EC had cancelled polls in the Vellore constituency on the grounds of excessive use of money power.
The poll panel is yet to announce a fresh date for elections in Vellore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav are among key leaders who contested the polls.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!