New Delhi: Voting is electronic, but the declaration of results is not instantaneous. It will take about five hours for each constituency’s votes to be counted, a polling observer says.
The counting of results will begin at 0800 hours IST with postal ballots. Thereafter, electronic votes will be taken up. Each Parliamentary constituency generally has six Assembly segments with 300 booths to each segment.
There will be 20 rounds of counting, which will be done in a hall with 15 tables for as many machines, one machine per booth. The machine will first display the total number of votes, and then the break-up sequentially, candidate-wise.
The larger the number of candidates, which is the case now, the longer the time. The numbers will be noted manually on a sheet and the sum of votes polled by each of the candidates will have to match the total shown by the machine.
The counting of the 15 machines in each round will take place parallely. After a random cross-check, the round will be declared completed, and the next round will begin.
Polling observers estimate that each round will take not less than 15 minutes, so counting for an Assembly segment should take about five hours, and that will also be the time taken per constituency as the six Assembly segments will be processed parallely.
To ensure impartiality, apart from a counting supervisor and assistant, this time each table will have a so-called micro-observer – a Central Government employee.
The observer appointed for each hall will also have two or three assistants, known as floating observers. In other words, electrons can ensure efficiency, they cannot inspire trust.
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