NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India has decided to further streamline the process of counting of Postal Ballots to reduce delays and enhance clarity as its 30th initiative.To ensure uniformity and utmost clarity in the counting process, the Election Commission has decided that the penultimate (second last) round of EVM/VVPATs counting shall be taken up only after the counting of Postal Ballot Papers is completed, at the counting center, where postal ballot counting is being done.“As per the earlier instructions, EVM counting could theoretically go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting and chances of it getting completed before the completion of postal ballot counting cannot be ruled out. In view of the recent initiatives taken by the Commission for home voting for PwDs and senior citizens (85+) also, the number of postal ballots has increased substantially,” the statement read. “Although, counting of postal ballots generally gets completed before counting of EVMs, in order to ensure uniformity and utmost clarity in the counting process, the Commission has decided that, henceforth, the penultimate (second last) round of EVM/VVPATs counting shall be taken up only after the counting of Postal Ballot Papers is completed, at the counting center, where postal ballot counting is being done,” it added. The Commission has also directed that in cases where there are a large number of postal ballots, the ROs are to ensure that sufficient number of tables and counting staff are in place so there is no delay and the counting process is further streamlined.Under the new guidelines, counting of postal ballots and Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballots (ETPBs) will take greater precedence over EVM counting to ensure uniformity and avoid confusion.