Hyderabad: The mammoth exercise of counting votes in the 2022 Assembly Elections in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa will begin Thursday morning. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has a set protocol to follow so that the entire exercise remains transparent and is completed within the stipulated time. In this article, let's try and understand the vote-counting process in India.
EVM and VVPAT
The ECI uses Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to conduct elections. Since 2000, ECI has conducted over hundred assembly elections and three general elections using EVMs. The device consists of two pieces and is used to record votes. At one go, it can only record up to 2,000 votes. To ensure strict vigilance, the controlling device is kept by the Presiding Officer, whereas the balloting equipment is kept within the polling station.
Also read: UP: Postal ballot counting to begin at 8 am, EVM vote-counting at 8:30 am on March 10
In 2013, Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system was added to EVMs to increase transparency and improve voter confidence. VVPAT is a device attached with EVMs to leave a verifiable paper trail of votes cast in an election. VVPAT allows the voter to check whether his or her vote has been recorded with the candidate he or she had wished to vote for in the EVM. After the voter casts the vote, the VVPAT prints a slip confirming his vote and includes the name of the candidate, a serial number and the party symbol. If VVPAT does not match the vote cast, the voter must notify the Presiding Officer.
Who is responsible for counting the votes?
The Returning Officer (RO), a government officer nominated by the ECI for each constituency in consultation with the state government, is the person responsible for conducting end-to-end elections including counting of votes. The RO is given specific duties and powers for this purpose during the entire polling exercise.
Place and time of Counting
In the case of assembly elections, there is just one place of counting for each Vidhan Sabha seat which is decided by the concerned Returning Officer (RO). The counting process normally begins at 8 am under the scrutiny of the Returning Officer. On the day of the counting, a strong room is opened in the presence of Candidates, RO and observers under videography. To ensure that no mishappening takes place, the polled EVMs are brought to the Counting Centres under CCTV surveillance and in presence of candidates and their agents. On the counting day, before retrieving the result from the Control Units, the seals are verified, and unique serial numbers of Control Unites are tallied before counting agents are deputed by the candidates.
Randomisation of counting officials
Election Commission mandates posting of counting supervisors and counting assistants in such a random manner that a particular counting official will come to know of the assembly constituency and the table assigned to him only upon arrival at the counting centre on the day of counting.
Special observers appointed by the commission and district election officers conduct the process of randomisation at 5 am of counting day so no one can come to know about the exact table or assembly constituency before the assignment of duty. The process can be done manually or by computer through a draw of lots. Ordinarily, officers don’t work in shifts as the counting process is completed within 6-8 hours.
Persons allowed in Counting Hall
Only the following persons can be allowed inside the counting hall:
(i) Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants;
(ii) persons authorised by the Election Commission;
(iii) public servants on duty in connection with the election; and
(iv) Candidates, their Election Agents and Counting Agents.
No security guards accompanying any candidate or his election agent or any of his counting agents are allowed to enter the counting hall in any circumstance. The RO has to ensure that before counting begins, no one else part from the above-mentioned people is present in the room. The term public servant on duty in connection with election does not normally include police officers. As such officers whether in uniform or in plain clothes should not, as a general rule, be allowed to enter inside the counting hall, unless the RO decides to call them in for the maintenance of law and order or some similar purpose.
Their presence in the counting hall without any compelling reason has on occasions given rise to complaints by some candidates or parties who have alleged that their agents had been overawed by an unnecessary show of force. The term public servant on duty in connection with counting does not include the Ministers, State Ministers and Dy. Ministers of the Union or the States.
Opening of Strong Rooms
According to ECI rules, the strong room where EVMs are kept after voting should be opened in the presence of returning officers, assistant returning officers, election agents and ECI observers. The seal of the lock should be checked and then broken after making necessary entries in the logbook. The entire proceeding is video-graphed with due date-time stamping. Following it, the names and numbers of candidates are put in the form 17C in the same order as in the ballot paper.
After the seal of the strong room is broken and the lock is opened, the EVMs are taken to the counting hall under escort and distributed at the counting tables. Before the cases carrying EVMs are opened, the seals (address tags) put on them by the presiding officer at the booth are checked and counting agents deployed by candidates and political parties are also allowed to check and verify the seals put on EVM bags.
Once the case carrying the EVM is opened, serial numbers of EVMs are checked to verify whether it was the same machine that was supplied to the concerned polling station or not. Thereafter the poll officials verify the seals affixed on the 'candidate set section’ and ‘result section’. These seals have their respective serial numbers to prevent tampering. The serial number on the seal is then matched with the serial number given in the paper seal account prepared by the presiding officer in Item 10 of Part I of Form 17C.
Counting agents deployed by political parties are allowed to compare the serial number available at the counting table with the serial number of paper seal affixed on the machines. If the serial numbers don’t match then the returning officer matches the serial number of unused paper seals returned by the concerned presiding officer to find out any clerical mistakes in the entry of numbers. If the RO decides that the machine has been tampered with then it will be kept aside and the votes recorded in it will not be counted.
Postal Ballots are counted before votes recorded in EVMs
As per the ECI rules, electronically transmitted postal ballots (ETPBs) and Postal Ballots are counted first. Officials sort out valid and rejected papers, count them and keep them safe. Counting of votes recorded in EVMs can start half an hour after the start of counting for postal ballots.
Compilation and announcement of Results
After compilation and announcement of results, any candidate or his election agent or counting agent may apply in writing to the concerned returning officer (RO) for counting the printed VVPAT paper slips in any or all polling stations. Then the officer will have to decide the issue and he can allow the counting of VVPAT paper slips of any or all polling stations. The commission has directed that any decision of the returning officer must be recorded in writing along with the reasons.
