CEC Rajiv Kumar tells what world record India made during LS polls, says voting should have been ended a month earlier

On Monday, the Election Commission held a press conference, a day before the results of the Lok Sabha elections-2024 were to be announced.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar highlighted the massive voter turnout, stating, "64 crore voters cast their votes in these elections. This is a world record. Among them, 31 crore were women voters."

This significant participation of women voters was met with a standing ovation.

Rajiv Kumar praised the employees involved in the election process, addressing the challenges they face when negative narratives arise. He remarked, "When negative narratives are created, it must cause them considerable trouble."

In response to allegations made by Jairam Ramesh that District Magistrates were being threatened, Rajiv Kumar said it is a fake narrative. Ramesh had accused Amit Shah of threatening 150 collectors.

"Before the counting of votes, it should be clarified which DMs have been influenced. It is unacceptable to spread such rumors. Many political parties have made demands from us, and we have accepted those demands, some of which are already part of our rule book."

Rajiv Kumar assured that no errors would occur during the vote counting process, emphasizing that the entire procedure is pre-determined and candidates are involved at every stage.

Elections should have concluded a month earlier 

The CEC mentioned that the elections should have concluded a month earlier and not been conducted in such extreme heat, highlighting this as a key lesson. Another crucial takeaway is the need to combat fake narratives. Initially, we anticipated attacks would come from beyond the country's borders, but that expectation proved incorrect. The fake narratives came from within the borders. 

What can we do if the candidate withdraws his nomination

When a reporter asked when the Supreme Court had ordered the implementation of NOTA, it was considered equivalent to a candidate. In such a situation, how was the candidate elected unopposed in Surat. In response to this, the CEC said- Our effort is that elections should be held everywhere. There is prestige in winning by contesting, which is not there in winning unopposed. But, what can we do if the candidate withdraws his nomination? It will not be right to conduct voting where there is only one candidate.