The counting of votes will begin at 8 AM when the postal ballots will be counted. According to EC guidelines, half-and-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs will begin.
The ‘ballot unit' is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get results per machine.
These were the first Lok Sabha elections when the option of ‘none of the above' or NOTA was introduced on the EVMs following Supreme Court directions to ensure secrecy of voters who use this option.
Before NOTA button was installed on EVMs, voters had to fill up form 49 ‘O' at the polling station which compromised their identity.
