“There is also a threat of postal ballots being rejected or accepted illegally to suit one person’s electoral victory or defeat. Only to avoid those malpractices, the rule that the penultimate round shall not be counted unless the postal ballots are counted. By citing delay as a reason, this noble cause should not be lost,” DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi, in a letter to the Election Commission, said.

“In light of these apprehensions, we request that the EC should issue a clarification informing all District Election Officer and Returning Officers that the procedure as stated earlier in the handbooks of EC should continue without any variation,” he added.

Pointing out the EC’s letter that the penultimate round of EVMs counting should be taken up only after the completion of postal ballot counting was withdrawn, the DMK leader said, “it was also trite that the number of postal ballots will be greater due to the inclusion of absentee electorates and as such, it is likely that there are going to be a higher number of elections where the victory margin will be closer to the number of postal ballot votes.

“Therefore, it is only fair for the postal ballots to necessarily be counted before the penultimate round of EVM counting,” Bharathi said adding that EC should recall the letter, which said that the penultimate round of EVMs counting should be taken up only after completion of Postal Ballot counting is withdrawn.