How 2 Lok Sabha Candidates Lost on EVM Count But Registered Wins After Postal Ballots Were Added

Two candidates won the Lok Sabha elections despite losing during the counting of the votes cast on the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar and Rabindra Narayan Behera of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured fewer EVM votes than their nearest rivals but came out on top after the postal ballots were added.

Waikar won from the Mumbai North West seat in Maharashtra, while Behera bagged the Jajpur seat in Odisha.

Postal ballot

Postal ballots are usually used for voting by government employees posted far from their constituencies, prisoners, and those on election duty.

Till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the counting of postal ballots was done 30 minutes before the EVM counting. All postal ballots had to be counted before the EVM counting could be completed.

But the Election Commission tweaked the guidelines after the 2019 elections as the number of postal ballots had shot up following the introduction of the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), and the mandatory counting of VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations.

It directed all chief electoral officers on May 18, 2019, that the EVM counting “can go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting”.

Ravindra Waikar

Waikar defeated his nearest rival, Amol Gajanan Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra’s Mumbai North West seat, by just 48 votes — the lowest margin in the state.

Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT) was in the lead for most of the day as EVM votes were being counted. But the lead began to shrink as the counting progressed. By the end, the difference was of just one vote — Kirtikar got 4,51,095 votes against 4,51,094 of Waikar.

Then, the postal ballots were added.

While Waikar had 1,550 postal ballots cast for him, Kirtikar had 1,501, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). This meant that Waikar won.

The final count after the ballots were factored in showed that Waikar had 4,52,644 votes and Kirtikar had 4,52,596.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has said it will challenge the result in court.

Rabindra Narayan Behera

BJP’s Rabindra Narayan Behera received 496 fewer EVM votes than his nearest rival Sarmistha Sethi of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and yet ended up winning.

Behere won after postal ballots were added. While he polled 5,280 votes by the ballots, Sethi polled 3,224.

The final count stood as Behera’s 5,34,239 against Sethi’s 5,32,652.