Just two days before the Election Commission is set to announce the results for the Lok Sabha Election 2024, both BJP and the INDIA bloc knocked on the doors of the poll body to ensure that all the guidelines are followed on June 4, when the votes polled in the seven-phase election will be counted.
Pushing forward their demand, leaders from both the Opposition-led INDIA bloc and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday met the top officials of the Election Commission on Sunday.
What INDIA Bloc Leaders Said?
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, while briefing the media post the meeting, said that this was the third time when a delegation of leaders from the opposition visited the poll panel during the general elections.
He further said that among other things, they urged the officials to ensure that the postal ballots are counted and their results declared before the results of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are announced.
While addressing the media, Singhvi 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.”
“Our complaint is that this guideline has been given a go-by. They have repealed the practice,” he further stated.
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 added.
Senior leaders of the INDIA bloc met at the national capital on Saturday to discuss their strategy for the counting day. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), however skipped the meeting.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who presided over the deliberations, said they would meet EC officials on Sunday “to discuss certain issues”.
The opposition parties have asked their 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.
Piyush Goyal After Meeting ECI
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, after meeting the Election Commission on Sunday said, “We had to call upon ECI today, in light of the repeated attempts by a section of the political parties led by the Indian National Congress and their INDI alliance partners and certain motivated civil society groups and NGOs who are trying their level best to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process.”
He further said that the opposition’s efforts against India’s robust electoral process are a direct attack on the country’s democratic institutions.
BJP Delegation Led By Nirmala Sitharaman Meets CEC & EC
A delegation of BJP led by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners on Sunday in order to urge them to take four important steps.
Elaborating on these four steps, BJP leader Piyush Goyal said, “One is that we have requested EC every official engaged in the counting process be fully conversant with the minutest details of the prescribed process and engage diligently with all EC protocols…second, to ensure safety and security of the electoral process during the counting and announcement of results…third, to take cognisance of the systematic attempts to undermine the electoral process and take stringent action against those responsible.”
(with agency inputs)
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