As the nation awaits declaration of Lok Sabha Election results, counting of votes for the polls that were stretched across seven phases began at 8 am on Tuesday. A day ago in a briefing, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar stated that the counting of postal ballots will begin first across all counting centres.
Kumar further said, the counting of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines will commence after half-an-hour of the start of the postal ballot count.
The counting of votes will take place on 543 parliamentary constituencies under heavy security cover.
The day holds massive significance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi eyes a record-equalling third straight term in power amid the INDIA opposition bloc's hope of springing a surprise.
This initial trends would also be crucial as several exit polls have largely predicted that the NDA is closer to realising Modi's ambitious target of "400 paar" for his alliance than the INDIA bloc is to crossing even the 180 mark, one-third of the total number of seats.
Lok Sabha Election 2024 Star Candidates
Additionally, in a bid to prevent post-poll violence, the Election Commission has for the first time decided to continue with the deployment of central forces in states like Manipur, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha even after the expiry of the Model Code of Conduct period.
Notably, the General elections to elect 18th Lok Sabha were held from 19 April to 1 June 2024 across the country amid tight security. The nation voted to elect all 543 members of the Lok Sabha. According to the Election Commission the counting trends and results will be available on the ECI Website at results.eci.gov.in as well as on the Voter Helpline App.
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