Lok Sabha election results 2024: What is the row over postal ballots? Can they impact poll outcome?

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election results, on 4 June, a big brouhaha has emerged over postal ballots with the INDI Alliance urging the Election Commission to count postal ballots first and then finalise the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) numbers.

On Sunday, the members of the INDI Alliance met with officials from the EC, asking that they issue “clear, detailed, guidelines for the counting process”. The Opposition’s bloc also sought clarification on counting postal ballots first, under the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, and ensuring CCTV-monitored safe movement of Control Units.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, addressing the media after the meet, said: “We presented two to three important issues in front of the elections, the most important being the counting of postal ballots. Postal ballots can swing the election results and can prove decisive.”

As the row swirls, we explain what are postal ballots, what are the rules on counting these votes and their significance to an election.

What are postal ballots?

Postal ballot, also known as absentee voting, is a method through which certain individuals can exercise their electoral duty by mailing them in rather than in person at a polling station. This system serves as a convenient alternative for individuals unable to vote in person due to various circumstances, such as being away from their home constituency, facing a disability, or performing essential services on election day.

As per the rules, postal ballot is permitted only for a select few individuals. These include members of the Armed Forces, paramilitary forces, and other government employees, who may not be in their home constituency. Election officials who are on duty at other polling stations are also eligible for postal ballot. Moreover, other government officials who are unable to be present at their home constituency on the day of polling are given the option of casting their vote through postal ballot. Even the aged and the physically challenged are allowed to use this method to cast their vote.

An Indian polling official drops his postal ballot in a box in Majuli, Assam. A select few individuals, including those in the Armed Forces and paramilitary are provided with this option so that they can cast their vote even if they aren’t in their home constituency. File image/AP

And this election season, the Election Commission also allowed for media persons on duties relating to poll day coverage to vote through postal ballot. Until now, all those who covered the past general elections were denied the right to vote by virtue of being away from their respective polling stations.

To apply for this option, voters must apply for Form 12 D, to the returning officer (RO) of their respective constituency. Following that, they receive their ballot paper in the mail, which they need to fill up, providing their signature and other relevant details.

Once they complete this, voters seal the marked ballot paper and declaration form inside the secrecy sleeve and place it into a pre-paid return envelope. They then need to mail the return envelope to the designated address within a specified time.

What is the rule for counting postal ballots?

Now that we have understood what is a postal ballot and who is eligible, here are the rules for counting postal ballots.

Postal ballots are counted separately from votes cast at polling stations. On the day of counting, which will be 4 June this time around, the counting of postal ballots is taken up first before the before the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting starts. As per the rules, all postal ballots had to be counted before the EVM counting could be completed.

“Under no circumstances, should the results of all the rounds of the EVM counting be announced before finalising the postal ballot counting,” stated the EC’s Handbook for Counting Agents in February 2019.

Poll officials sort postal ballots to begin the counting of votes for the Assembly elections at a centre in Rajkot. Until 2019, the rules said that all postal ballots had to be counted before the EVM counting could be completed. File image/PTI

However, in May 2019, the EC changed the rules of counting postal ballots, stating that EVM counting “can go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting”. What this means is that postal ballot counting would begin 30 minutes before the EVM counting, but it needn’t be completed before EVM votes are tallied.

Moreover, it also changed the rule of recounting of postal ballots. Initially, postal ballots were recounted if the margin of a win was less than the total number of postal ballots. However, now the postal ballots which are rejected as invalid would be re-verified if the margin is less than the number of such ballots, according to a News18 report.

The change in the counting was made as the number of postal ballots increased owing to the introduction of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), and the compulsory counting of VVPAT slips.

Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 22.71 lakh ballots of the 60.76 crore valid votes were postal ballots, reported the Indian Express. And according to the EC, this number will only be higher this time around.

What is INDI Alliance’s grouse?

Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi, speaking to the media on Sunday following the meet with EC officials, said: “Our complaint is that this guideline has been given a go-by. They have repealed the practice.

“The Election Commission has altered this statutory rule through guidelines. As a result, it is no longer required to declare the postal ballot results first. But statutory rules cannot be changed via guidelines. For a level-playing field, it is important that the old rules are followed.”

CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury also said that postal ballots should be counted first on the counting day. “The demands were that until the 2019 election, the procedure and the law were that first the postal ballots would be counted and announced, and after that, the EVM counting would begin. We are saying that it should be followed,” he was quoted as telling ANI.

Do postal ballots really matter?

Yes; postal ballots are very important and, at times, decide the fate of a candidate. For instance, according to the INDI Alliance, the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections highlight the significance of postal ballots.

Postal ballots can make or break a candidate. In the 2019 Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections, a BJP candidate lost out when his closest rival received more postal ballot votes. File image/PTI

At the time, the winning margin in the state was 12,700 votes, while the number of postal ballots was 52,000. Leaders of the Opposition bloc said that there was a “huge outcry” in the election when postal votes were counted “at the end of counting” electronic votes.

And that’s not the only time, postal votes mattered. In the 2019 Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections, these votes changed the fortunes of a BJP candidate. At the time, BJP’s Ealing Tallang from the Seppa East Assembly constituency received 3,759 votes at the end of the EVM vote counting. However, when the counting of postal ballots was taken up, the scenario changed. His opponent, from the National People’s Party received 474 postal votes, compared to 396. And with this, the NPP candidate was declared winner, securing a total of 4,184, compared to Tallang’s 4,155 votes.

What has the EC said now?

Chief Election Commissioner in a press conference on Monday said the same process was followed in the 2019 and 2022 Assembly elections. “Postal ballot counting will start first. After only half an hour, we will start EVM counting. There is no doubt about it. As soon as EVM counting gets over five random VVPAT counting begins,” Kumar said.

With inputs from agencies