Delhi LS poll results may get delayed by 5-6 hours: Chief Electoral Officer

Five random VVPATs will be selected from every assembly constituency for counting leading to the delay, said the CEO

Declaration of results for the Delhi Lok Sabha seats may get delayed by around five to six hours on May 23 as more time will be spent on counting VVPATs from each of the 70 Assembly segments of the national capital, Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh has said.

He said after the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting is over, the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs) will be counted as per the Supreme Court guidelines.

"From every assembly constituency, five (VVPATs) will be randomly selected and they will be counted for which there is a special VVPAT counting booth in every counting hall. It will take place in five rounds," Singh said.

Delhi has 70 assembly constituencies and in all 350 VVPATs will be counted.

"Every assembly segment has 200 polling stations and five polling stations will be selected randomly. This will delay the formal results but trends will be already out. Formal declaration of results will be five to six hours delayed," Singh told PTI.

Delhi has seven parliamentary constituencies and there is one counting centre in each of them.

Counting centres will have one counting hall for each of the 10 assembly segment, officials said.

In each counting hall, a maximum of 14 tables can be put and machines that would come in the first round, their results will be compiled and uploaded on the 'Suvidha' app.

The counting at 8 am will also commence with postal ballot counting. In the end, when two rounds of EVM counting will remain, the officials will have to ensure that the postal ballot counting is over.

After the EVM counting is over, the VVPAT counting will commence.