Lok Sabha election: DMK petitions Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer to count postal ballots first as usual

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Friday petitioned the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, insisting that the postal ballots must be counted first and the final round of counting of EVMs must not be undertaken before the declaration of results of the postal ballots.

Drawing the attention of the election commission to a press release issued by the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation to the effect that postal ballots would be counted at the end, DMK organizing secretary R S Bharathi, in his petition to the CEO on Friday, said that the contents of the GCC commissioner's press release "appear not to be a correct procedure" and the statement has caused considerable confusion in the minds of the counting agents.

Asking the ECI to give a direction to all returning officers and a public announcement for the benefit of counting agents of all the candidates regarding the legal and correct procedure to be adopted during the counting of votes, Bharathi requested the CEO to give directions to all returning officers and issue a public clarification to the effect that the postal ballots (including EBTS and ordinary postal ballots) alone should be counted first and counting of EVMs must commence only after the expiry of 30 minutes.

The DMK also petitioned the CEO to instruct the returning officers to not undertake the final round of counting of EVMs before declaration of the result of the postal ballots to ensure free and fair elections.

The DMK organizing secretary insisted that according to the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, counting postal ballots first and counting EVMs after the expiry of 30 minutes and undertaking the final round of EVMs counting after the declaration of results of the postal ballots was the right procedure.