Officials blame ‘new rules’ for delay in counting of votes

BHOPAL/JAIPUR: THE SLOW PACE OF COUNTING CAN BE GAUGED FROM THE FACT THAT EVEN BY 5PM, COUNTING AT MANY CENTRES HAD NOT BEEN COMPLETED

In contrast to the speedy tallying of votes in three other states — Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana — the slow pace of counting in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan kept people in general and political parties in particular on tenterhooks through the day.

Rajasthan’s chief electoral officer Anand Kumar explained the delay saying votes in the electronic voting machine (EVM) were being matched by randomly selecting a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) from a polling centre in each assembly constituency.

“This process will take some time and there will be some delay but [we] cannot tell how much delay will be there,” he added.

Kumar’s counterpart in Madhya Pradesh, VL Kantharao, said: “The delay is because of the provision of a certificate to every candidate after every round of counting. “

The process that was blamed for the delay in vote counting had already been tested in the assembly elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh last year.

The slow pace of counting can be gauged from the fact that even by 5 pm, counting at many centres had not been completed. The minimum number of rounds of counting was 15 and maximum 32. However, till 5 pm, 21 rounds of counting had been completed in some constituencies and only 10 to 11 rounds in some others, officials familiar with the situation said.

A Congress delegation comprising Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath and state Congress campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia met the chief election commissioner in Delhi recently, demanding a certificate of votes polled after every round of counting.

This process resulted in the delay in counting. In constituencies with more candidates, it takes longer for election personnel to complete counting votes and then provide a certificate of votes polled to each of the candidates.