Postal ballots will be accepted only till 8 am on counting day May 16 for lok Sabha elections. Postal ballots received after start of counting of EVM votes will not be taken up for counting. This information was given to Indian Forest Service officers going to other states as counting supervisors at a brief at the CEO office here today. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vl Kanta Rao and Joint Chief Electoral Officer SS Bansal were also present.
Detailed information was given at the briefing by officers of the Election Commission regarding counting apart from commission's directives and laws pertaining to elections. Officers were directed to ensure conduct of counting cautiously under their supervision. They were informed that postal ballots will be counted in the chamber of RO.
All counting supervisors will work in coordination with concerning state's CEO and the commission. Three-tier security arrangements have been made at counting centres. Supervisors were asked to seek information from RO/ARO about counting as soon as they reach districts assigned to them. They should also go round counting centres.
They may also hold meetings with representatives of nationally recognised political parties. Supervisors should send strong room's OK report to the commission. They were told that entry of police and other security personnel in counting halls will be restricted. Ministers, MPs, MlAs and Mayors cannot become counting agents. They will be allowed to enter counting hall only when they are candidates.
Kanta Rao directed officers to minutely check rejected postal ballots and seek reasons for their rejection. He said that supervisors and on their directives, micro observers can randomly check 2 EVMs in a hall/room. Supervisors will also have to check record/votes cast in EVMs. Shri Kanta Rao asked officers to necessarily study counting-related process in advance and get publicised their place of stay and phone number after reaching workplace. They should also keep with them leaflets through which data will be entered in Genesis software.
The officers were informed that commission has directed to provide copies of tabulation sheets to counting agents and candidates. Deputy Chief Election Commissioner SS Rawat gave detailed information about counting through a presentation. Master trainers for counting Santosh Bhargava and Harikrishna Garg informed about process for counting of EVM votes.
The IFS officers going to other States as counting supervisors include Sarvshri Bhagwat Singh, Arun Kumar, Dhirendra Bhargava, A Gautami, HU Khan, SD Pateriya, Rajesh Shrivastava, UK Subodhli, Sudeep Singh, Vibhas Thakur, Anand Kumar, AK Bisariya, Hemwati Burman, Mridul Pathak, Vivek Jain, Mahendra Singh Dhakad, NS Dungiryal, BPS Parihar, Ajay Shankar, Archana Shukla, GP Verma, SS Rajput, Shamsher Singh, Ashish Kumar Verma, Alok Das, Satyendra Bahadur and Ramesh Kumar Gupta.