Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar has admitted that holding elections during hot weather was a significant “learning experience,” given that heatwaves resulted in the tragic deaths of 33 polling staff on the last day of polling, which concluded on 1 June. Kumar made this statement while addressing a press conference just a day before the counting of votes, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday at 8 a.m. This is the first time that a CEC has addressed the media just a day before the election results. However, the CEC stated that the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029 would be concluded by the end of April, as intense heatwaves in several states pulled down voter turnout. Addressing the conference, Kumar tried to present the ECI as strong as it used to be under the previous heads of the commission. He responded to the opposition’s allegations that the election watchdog was “missing in action” during the polls and discussed the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Also Read: Lok Sabha election 2024 “India set a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, exercising their franchise this year,” the CEC said. Additionally, the EC has reported a record seizure of 10,000 crore during the seven-phase Lok Sabha election that commenced on 19 April and concluded on 1 June. The seizures include cash, freebies, drugs, and liquor, were made during the 2024 polls as compared to 3,500 crore in 2019. CEC Rajiv Kumar said the poll panel will soon start the election process in Jammu and Kashmir. Over 90% of 495 complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations were disposed of during the 2024 polls, Kumar said. Nearly 400,000 vehicles, 135 special trains and 1,692 air sorties were used for conducting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and only 39 repolls took place this year as against 540 repolls in 2019, he said. Also Read: Before the seventh and last phase of the elections, most of northern and central India was in the grip of extreme heatwave conditions on 28 May with the mercury crossing 50 degrees Celsius in Rajasthan’s Churu and Haryana’s Sirsa and settling nine notches above normal in Delhi. Opposition allegations On social media memes calling election commissioners ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’, inspired by the recent film ‘Laapataa Ladies’, Kumar said, “We were always here, never went missing”. However, on most of the charges from opposition parties, the CEC said that it was a narrative aimed at “misleading” the election process. The CEC addressed the press conference a day after the INDIA bloc urged the poll panel to ensure that postal ballots are counted and their results declared before the outcome of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) is announced. During the previous Lok Sabha elections, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase. However, the practice has been discontinued in this Lok Sabha election. Nearly a billion Indians, approximately 970 million, were supposed to cast their votes over six weeks, the longest ever. The election commission had set up over a million polling stations, with 2,400 political parties in the poll fray. In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 303 seats and its coalition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had secured 350 seats. Conversely, the Indian National Congress had won only 52 seats, falling short of the required 10% to claim the Leader of the Opposition post, while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) secured 91 seats. The rest of the 98 seats went to other parties. This time around, PM Modi has set a target of 370 seats for the BJP, and 400-plus for the NDA in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world to know more. You are on Mint! India’s #1 news destination (Source: Press Gazette). To learn more about our business coverage and market insights,
Election Chief Admits Heatwave Deaths, Promises Earlier Polls in 2029
