Parliamentary elections 2024: Step by step process of counting votes in India
2024 parliamentary elections (Photo: PTI)
Leaders and political parties are eagerly awaiting today’s election results in Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana. According to officials, everything is ready for the counting procedure, which starts at 8 a.m., including safety management.
On the other hand, all twenty counting centers and district headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir will be used for counting of votes, while 93 counting centers have been established in 90 constituencies in 22 districts of Haryana. So let’s learn a little about the elaborate process the people in the counting rooms use to announce the results.
What is EVM?
Electronic voting machines, or EVMs, provide voters with a button for each candidate they choose. The control unit and the voting unit are the two components that make up an EVM. These units are connected to each other by a cable. The polling officer or the presiding officer holds the control unit of the EVM.
To ensure that voters can cast their votes, the voting unit is stored in the voting compartment. This is done to ensure that the polling station confirms your identity.
Instead of handing out ballots, the EVM offers voters the opportunity to cast their vote by having the polling officer click on the vote button. Next to the machine is a blue button that displays a list of names and/or symbols of the candidates. You can press the button next to the name of the candidate the voter wants to support.
Assembly elections 2024: Location of vote counting
• There is only one place in the constituency where votes are counted.
• More counting centers are allocated based on the number of votes if there are more seats with different constituencies.
• The Returning Officer (RO) announces the voting location.
• The Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) is in charge of a number of centres.
State elections 2024: Points to remember
• In a large hall there are several tables where the votes are counted.
• If there is a risk of crowding, the Election Commission (EC) will provide more rooms.
• High security personnel are stationed in the counting centers.
• Majority of the counting centers are government schools and institutions.
Parliamentary Elections 2024: How votes will be counted in India?
• The EVMs will be sealed and kept in a safe within the parliamentary constituency once voting ends. The EVMs will be removed and unlocked on election day in the presence of representatives of each of the participating political parties.
• The RO counting the votes uses postal ballots to initiate the voting process. Thirty minutes after the counting of the postal votes, the counting of the EVM votes starts. During counting, only the control units of the EVMs are needed.
• Counting of votes for each Assembly constituency is carried out in a single hall with 14 tables set up and control units of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) spread across the tables as a parliamentary constituency includes several Assembly constituencies.
• If there are many candidates, more rooms or tables may be needed. However, prior approval from the electoral body is required. Under the supervision of an ARO, counting may take place at multiple locations within the constituency.
• To ensure that the control units are sealed, properly assigned and functioning as intended, a number of checks are performed prior to the count.
• The votes cast in 14 EVMs are counted in each round and the results are displayed and written on a blackboard attached to each table before the next round of counting.
• Supervisors and counting assistants, chosen by the RO through a randomization process, count votes at each table.
• A “Results” button on the EVM control unit shows how many votes each candidate received. The total number of candidates for each constituency is also shown.
• The EVM displays the votes won by the candidates one by one, indicated by a beep, when the Results button is pressed. After displaying the candidates’ vote totals, the control device displays “End”.
First publication: Oct 8, 2024 | 11:39 am IST