Lok Sabha counting: Why final trends will only be clear by 4 pm

Among these seats are high-profile ones like Beed, Nanded and Satara in Maharashtra, Mirzapur, Faizabad and Kanpur in UP, and Saran and Ujiapur in Bihar.

“There are roughly 14,000 votes counted in every round. When the election is this close, seats where margins are less than 10,000 votes have to be watched closely as they could flip even after two rounds of counting,” said a former EC officer.

“Around this time, when roughly 50% of the votes have been counted, a lead of about 20,000 to 30,000 is more or less considered a stable margin. A margin of over 50,000 is considered a win set in stone,” an EC official told The Indian Express.

Commission officials said counting is going on smoothly and the EC hasn’t received any complaints from any political party so far. However, for seats that are down to the wire, counting may slow down further, as was witnessed during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2018.

In extremely close contests, candidates sometimes want a recounting of votes. In such cases, she needs to submit an application to the Returning Officer (RO) — responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies — concerned. 

“On such an application being made the returning officer shall decide the matter and may allow the application in whole or in part or may reject it in toto if it appears to him to be frivolous or unreasonable,” according to Rule 63 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.

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