Ahead of the counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections, the leaders from both the ruling side and the Opposition side met the election commission of India (ECI). While senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman urged the commission to implement several critical measures to safeguard the integrity of India's electoral process, a delegation of leaders from the INDIA bloc met the full bench of the election commission and urged it to ensure that all the guidelines are followed on June 4, when the votes polled in the LS polls will be counted, including declaring the postal-ballot results before the outcome of the EVMs is announced.

Goyal alleged that certain INDIA bloc parties along with some civil society groups and NGOs, are attempting to undermine the electoral process."We had to call upon ECI today, in light of the repeated attempts by a section of the political parties in INDI alliance and certain motivated civil society groups and NGOs who are trying their level best to undermine the integrity of India's electoral process,” he said

During the meeting, the BJP delegation outlined four key requests aimed at ensuring the integrity of the electoral process. Goyal said that, he emphasised the need for all officials involved in the counting process to be thoroughly familiar with the prescribed procedures and to strictly adhere to all election commission protocols.

Additionally, he highlighted the importance of guaranteeing the safety and security of the electoral process during both the counting and the announcement of results. Goyal also urged the election commission to recognize and address systematic attempts to undermine the electoral process and to take stringent action against those responsible for such activities.

Briefing the media after the INDIA bloc meet at Nirvachan Sadan, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi 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.

Salman Khurshid along with D Raja, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Sanjay Yadav, Nassir Hussian, and Salman Khurshid reached the poll body. Sitaram Yechuri also reached the office of the election commission with other leaders.

"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," Singhvi said.

"Our complaint is that this guideline has been given a go-by. They have repealed the practice," he added.

The leaders of the INDIA bloc requested the EC to instruct its officials that they should follow the guidelines.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary 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 said.

Moreover, Congress leader Khurshid also demanded vigilance during the counting and called the meeting promising. Khurshid said, "We requested for very strict vigilance during the counting process and they gave us a satisfactory reply... We didn't question any rules but made sure they are adhered to and followed faithfully. The meeting has been very promising."

CPI General Secretary Raja also spoke about the meeting with. "... We primarily demanded that the Election Commission should strictly adhere to the Conduct of Election rules 1961, section 54 A...", Raja said.

Meanwhile, senior leaders of the INDIA bloc met here to discuss their strategy for the counting day, even as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) 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.