EC has agreed to count postal ballots first: Congress leader Singhvi

New Delhi: The opposition on Monday said the Election Commission (EC) has agreed to its request of counting the postal ballots first on June 4, when the results of the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be declared, and stressed that this is the participatory manner of promoting the spirit of democracy in a non-adversarial fashion.

Leaders from the INDIA opposition bloc had urged the EC on Sunday to ensure that on June 4, the postal ballots are counted and their results declared before the outcome of the EVMs is announced, and said the poll panel should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure that those are implemented.

A delegation of leaders from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), including the Congress's Abhishek Singhvi, met the full bench of the EC on Sunday, ahead of Tuesday's counting of the votes polled in the Lok Sabha election.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Singhvi had said this was the third time that a delegation of opposition leaders visited the poll panel during the general election and, among other things, 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.

In a statement on Monday, Singhvi said, "As informed, I am happy and proud to have spoken on behalf of the multi-party delegation which went yesterday to the Election Commission of India. We are also grateful to the ECI for giving us time promptly on a Sunday and for hearing us patiently." "What one is happiest about the most is that a very glaring issue of democracy, namely counting postal ballots first, has been graciously and promptly agreed to by the ECI, one or two days before the counting of votes and shall be implemented tomorrow," the senior Congress leader said.

This is the participatory manner of promoting the spirit of democracy in a non-adversarial fashion, which works best in the long term, he asserted.

In a letter to the EC, the INDIA bloc leaders had said the number of postal ballots has gone up significantly in this Lok Sabha election as senior citizens (aged 85 years and above) and differently-abled persons were allowed to cast their votes through this process.

They quoted various rules and guidelines of the EC, including provisions of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and Handbook for Returning Officer and Counting Agents (August 2023), that said the counting of postal ballots shall be done first.