The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched new guidelines aimed at streamlining postal ballot counting, in its 30th reform initiative over the past six months. Under the revised rules, all postal ballots must be counted before the penultimate (second-last) round of counting the votes from Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT. Earlier, postal ballot counting started at 8:00 am and EVM counting at 8:30 am, which allowed EVM counting to progress even before postal ballots were fully tallied. The new directive mandates that EVM/VVPAT counting cannot proceed to its penultimate stage until postal ballots are finished at each counting centre. To support this, Returning Officers (ROs) are instructed to deploy adequate counting tables and staff, especially in constituencies receiving a high volume of postal ballots, so that delays can be minimized. The motive is to bring uniformity, clarity, and transparency to a process that has seen discrepancies and procedural ambiguities in past elections. The change comes especially as postal ballots have grown in importance, with recent expansions to include home voting for persons with disabilities (PwDs) and senior citizens aged 85 and above. One concrete example: In Bihar, the ECI is implementing these new rules starting with upcoming assembly polls, ensuring that the counting sequence aligns with the new directive. Additionally, the ECI explicitly stated that EVM counting will only begin after the postal ballots are fully counted to prevent overlap or confusion. #ElectionReform #PostalBallot #VoteCounting #ECI #Transparency #ElectoralIntegrity #EVM #VVPAT #InclusiveVoting #IndiaElections
