India Elections: Counting of 550 million votes today

8,251 candidates, including 668 women and five transgenders, contested Lok Sabha battle

The Election Commission is all set to count on Friday some 550 million votes cast in the Lok Sabha polls that are widely expected to return the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, a top official said on Thursday.

“We are fully prepared and geared up for the counting day tomorrow... There is absolutely no problem,” Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma said.

He said all data accruing from the nationwide counting process would be updated on the poll panel’s web site after every five minutes.

Around 66 per cent of the 814 million electorate voted between April 7 and May 12 across the country to pick a new 543-member Lok Sabha. Exit polls at the end of the staggered election have predicted a win for the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Counting at 989 centres across the country will begin at 8am on Friday, an official statement said.

A total of 8,251 candidates, including 668 women and five transgenders, contested the Lok Sabha battle. The contestants included 3,234 independents.

Friday’s results will determine the political fortunes of India’s virtual who is who, including BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (Vadodara, Varanasi), Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), SP leader Mulayam Singh (Mainpuri, Azamgarh), JD-U leader Sharad Yadav (Madhepura), BJP leaders Arun Jaitley (Amritsar), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal (Varanasi).

Although the vote count would start at 8, about one million officials drawn from the central and state governments would assemble at the counting centres much before that.

“All those involved in the counting have been told to report by 5 in the morning tomorrow (Friday),” another Election Commission official said.

“They will have to come without their mobile phones, and none of them will be allowed to leave until the entire process gets over,” the official said.

Initial trends will be available rapidly. The final tally in the Lok Sabha will be more or less clear by midday. But most results will be known only by evening, one official said.

As polling ended in various constituencies spread over 10 rounds, the 1.72 million electronic voting machines (EVMs) were put in strongrooms across the country and placed under heavy security.