Vote counting will begin at 8 AM, postal ballots will be counted first: CEO Archana Patnaikx
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik on Monday said counting of votes cast for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections will commence on May 4 at 8 am.
The elections were held on April 23. The process of counting the votes polled is scheduled to take place on May 4 across 62 designated vote-counting centres.
Typically, when vote counting begins, postal ballots are counted first, followed by the counting of votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
However, while it had previously been stated that postal ballots would be counted last this time around, Patnaik clarified that the traditional method will be reverted to and followed once again.
In a notification, Patnaik said, “The vote-counting process will begin precisely at 8 am. Initially, at 8 am, the counting of postal ballots will commence; subsequently, 30 minutes later that is, at 8:30 am the counting of votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will begin”.
Regarding the rounds of counting for votes recorded in EVMs, the counting for the final round will commence only after the counting of postal ballots has been completed.
At each vote-counting centre, postal ballots will be counted in one designated section, while votes recorded in EVMs will be counted in a separate section on the respective counting tables. Officials at the level of Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) will be appointed to provide independent supervision for both processes.