India created world record with 64.2 cr people voting in LS polls: CEC Rajiv Kumar

New Delhi: A day before the counting of votes, the chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday said that as per the rules, the postal ballots will be counted first, followed by the EVMs that will be opened half an hour later, and then the mandatory voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATS) will be counted. The CEC clarified that the polling agents of all parties will have access to the counting arena, as has been the tradition.

Flanked by election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S.S. Sandhu, the CEC was speaking at a press conference on the eve of the counting of votes.

“Some demands were made by a multi-party delegation. We have agreed to all the demands,” Mr Kumar said, indicating that most of the issues raised by the multi-party delegation were part of election manuals.

“This process has been going on for 70 years... We have instructed every returning office or assistant returning officer. These are our orders, and they are no joke. Everyone has been instructed to follow the handbook or manuals. The entire counting process is absolutely robust,” the CEC said at a post-election press conference.

An Opposition delegation on Sunday made certain demands, which included counting postal ballots first and declaring their results before the EVMs were opened. They said that as per the rules, the results of the postal ballots are announced first, but the Election Commission (EC) has for the first time changed these rules, which is not as per the law. The Opposition said the postal ballot votes can completely alter the results and influence the final outcome.

As per the counting manual set by the EC, under Rule 54A, postal ballot votes are to be counted first, so in all cases, the first round will be postal ballots only. The counting of EVMs can begin 30 minutes after the start of postal ballot votes counting. However, postal ballot counting has to be completed before the start of the penultimate round of EVM counting.

The CEC said that earlier the number of postal ballots was less, but this time several senior citizens, people with disabilities, and those involved in essential services, including journalists, have been given the benefit of postal ballots.

With the EC facing criticism for holding elections in peak summer, the CEC said one of three big learnings from the polls was that this process should have been completed a month earlier.

"They shouldn't have been held in such hot weather. It is a big election that involves a lot of forces. There is a lot of movement. We cannot reduce the time taken for the process but it could have been done earlier instead of in such heat," Mr Kumar said.

Taking exception to allegations that district magistrates were being influenced, Mr Kumar said "fake" and "mischievous" narratives were spread to sway the general elections and sought proof from the Opposition to back its claim. "You cannot spread a rumour and bring everyone under a cloud of suspicion," Mr Kumar said, citing Opposition claims on faulty electoral rolls, the efficacy of EVMs, voter turnout and the counting process.

"There is a pattern, there is a design, I'm not saying it's a toolkit. But there is a design," the CEC said, adding that cases pending for years were raked up just four days before the first phase of polling.

The CEC said the Opposition should also tell the poll authority about those trying to influence the poll process before the counting of votes begins.

“The Election Commission is a constitutional body, it needs to be neutral. People are watching not only the parties and candidates but also the poll panel. But the way the EC has functioned till now, we can’t trust it. Since it’s a constitutional body, we respect it as it has dignity,” he added.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that home minister Amit Shah had been calling district magistrates and collectors and indulging in "blatant and brazen" intimidation.

“The outgoing Union home minister Amit Shah has been calling up district magistrates and collectors. So far, he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Officers should not get under any pressure and must uphold the Constitution. They are under watch,” Mr Rmesh had said.

The EC has sent a notice to Mr Ramesh asking him to give proof of his allegation until Monday evening and refused to give him extra time to file a reply.

The poll panel said that until the model code of conduct is in place, all officers are under the deemed deputation of the EC and report directly to it for directions. The CEC further said that no district magistrate has so far reported any influence, as claimed. The model code of conduct will be lifted once the polling process ends on June 6.

Talking about the elections, Mr Kumar said India created a world record with 64.2 crore people voting in these polls, including 31.2 crore women. The CEC said over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel were involved in the world’s largest electoral exercise. He said that nearly four lakh vehicles, 135 special trains, and 1,692 air sorties were used for conducting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Only 39 repolls took place in the 2024 general elections, as against 540 repolls in 2019,” the CEC said.

Mr Kumar said the commission is very enthused by the voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir, and soon the Assembly election process in the Union territory will start. He added that Jammu and Kashmir recorded its highest turnout in four decades at 58.58 per cent overall and 51.05 per cent in the Valley.

There were seizures of `10,000 crores involving cash, freebies, drugs and liquor made during the 2024 polls, compared to `3,500 crores in 2019. “We have by and large controlled the menace of deep fakes and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated synthetic content in the 2024 general elections. All development work used to stop during the model code of conduct, and the poll panel gave permission within 48 hours of applications for 95-98 per of projects,” the CEC added.

Mr Kumar referred to various memes doing the rounds on social media, describing the election commissioners as “laapata gentlemen,” asserting that he and fellow commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sing Sandhu were “never out” and were “always here.”