Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants — Handbook

Rajasthan ULB General Election 2026 · Member (ward) posts

Every instruction is sourced. See SOURCES. Procedures not found in an official document are not written here — see GAPS.

🔗 Every citation tag is clickable in CITATIONS — it opens the source PDF at the exact page.

1. Who you are, and how you were appointed

• Under Rule 59 the Returning Officer appoints you with the approval of the District Municipal Election Officer. One counting supervisor and one counting assistant per table [2292 ¶5(1)].
• Counting supervisor — gazetted or equivalent officer. Counting assistant — need not be gazetted, but as far as possible at the level of a Supervisory Post [2292 ¶5(2)].
• 🚫 Persons connected with any political party or candidate, and staff of urban body offices, are not appointed to this work. You are expected to be impartial and dutiful [2292 ¶5(2)].

You have one job: read the result of every Control Unit that reaches your table correctly, write it correctly, and reconcile it. "Counting must be error-free and must leave no confusion in the mind of a candidate or their agent about the result" [2292 ¶1(2)].

2. What must be on your table [2292 ¶7]

Check all four are present before you begin.

3. Which machine comes to your table [2292 ¶12]

• Where a ward has more polling stations, CUs are distributed in the serial order of polling stations — polling station 1's CU → counting table 1, station 2 → table 2, and so on [¶12(1)].
• The chart of this distribution is displayed on the board in the counting room [¶12(1)].
• The Form 14-ग for that same polling station comes to your table with the CU [¶12(3)].

Ballot Unit: normally only the CU is required for counting [¶12(2)]. 🚨 Exception: in BEL's post MK-V / M3A EVM, the Ballot Unit must be connected to the CU to obtain the result [¶12(2), ¶18(4)]. For MPSV/MPMV, only the CU is needed [¶19].

4. Step by step: getting the result from one Control Unit

Step 1 — Check the carrying box and its seal [2292 ¶13]

1. The CU arrives from the polling station duly kept in its carrying box and sealed.
2. As the box reaches your table, check the seal affixed by the Presiding Officer.

   Even if the box seal is not intact, there is no possibility of tampering with the CU — provided the seals on the unit, and especially the strip seal and pink paper seal, are intact [¶13(2)].

3. Remove the box seals, take out the CU and place it on the table so that candidates/agents present can inspect the strip seal, special tag and pink paper seals [¶13(3)].

Step 2 — Verify identity [2292 ¶14]

• Check the CU's serial number — it must be the same CU issued for use at that polling station.
• The Candidate Set Section seal must be the one affixed before the machine was issued.
• The Presiding Officer will also have affixed a strip seal and a seal on the special tag.

  Even if one of these is damaged, there is no possibility of tampering — provided the pink paper seal on the inner cover of the Result Section is intact [¶14].

Step 3 — Let the candidates inspect [2292 ¶15]

Before counting, allow candidates / election agents / counting agents to inspect the paper seals and other important seals and to satisfy themselves that the seals are intact.

Step 4 — Match the paper seal serial number 🚨 [2292 ¶16]

1. Open the outer cover of the Result Section — you will see the inner cover sealed with the Presiding Officer's seal. Check that seal too.
2. There will be two paper seals in the inner cover.
3. 🚨 Match the serial number on the paper seal with the serial number given by the Presiding Officer at item no. 9 (paper seal account) in Part I of Form 14-ग.
4. Let the candidates/agents present match it too.

If it does not match → this is not the counting supervisor's decision. Inform the RO/ARO at once. The RO decides — it may be a clerical mistake (in which case the discrepancy is ignored) or a suspicion of tampering [¶16(2)].

Step 5 — Take the result [2292 ¶18]

• Press Result-1 again if candidates/agents need to note the result [¶18(2)].
• After noting, close the Result Section cover and switch the CU OFF [¶18(3)].

🚨 MK-V / M3A: the related Ballot Unit must be connected to the CU to determine the result; the rest of the procedure is the same [¶18(4)].

Step 6 — Complete Form 14-ग Part-II 🚨 [2292 ¶20]

1. Record the number separately for each candidate and for NOTA in Part-II.
2. 🚨 Verify: the total in Part-II = the total shown against item 5 of Part-I of the same form.
3. Once correctly completed, the counting supervisor signs.
4. Obtain the signatures of candidates or their agents present near that table on Form 14-ग.
5. Hand the form to the RO/ARO — they will satisfy themselves and also sign, after which it goes to the officer preparing Form-21.

5. Who may sit at your table [2292 ¶6, ¶10]

• One counting agent per counting table [Rule 60(1)(d)].
• 🚫 A counting agent may sit only at the allotted table, nowhere else. Only the candidate and their election agent may go to any table [¶6(9)].
• 🚫 No entry without a photo identity card / badge [SO 151], [2292 ¶6(4)].
• 🚫 No one may leave during counting; once they leave, no re-entry [¶6(3)].

If an unauthorised person comes to your table, or an agent does not follow directions → do not argue yourself; inform the RO/ARO. Under Rule 60(2) such a person may be removed from the counting room, for which the help of the police present outside may be taken [¶8].

6. Discipline and secrecy

• 🚫 Smoking in the counting room is totally prohibited [¶8].
• Rule 61 — every officer, clerk, agent or person doing work relating to counting or its records must maintain the secrecy of votes [¶9].
• The provisions of Section 128 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 will be explained to you before counting begins — listen carefully [¶9].
• Where more than one ward is counted in a room, only the candidates/agents of the ward being counted may remain [¶4(3), ¶6(10)].

7. Seven things never to do

8. NOTA — what you must know

• NOTA (None of the Above) votes are displayed separately in the CU result and are entered in the column prescribed for NOTA in Form 14-ग Part-II [2292 ¶18(1)(iv)-(v)].
• Postal ballots also carry the NOTA option [SO 156 ¶1], [SO 157 ¶10].
• 🚨 The result is not affected by the votes received by NOTA; the candidate receiving the highest number of votes is declared elected [2292 ¶22(4)].

9. After counting — your role

As directed by the RO [2292 ¶29–¶31]:

• Assist in re-sealing the CU — the CU of an ECIL MPSV/MPMV is NOT sealed; only the SDMM/DMM are sealed [¶29(1)].
• For other CUs: remove the Candidate Set Section battery → re-seal the Candidate Section cover → close and re-seal the Result Section outer cover → CU into its carrying box → re-seal the box → address tag (municipality · ward number · polling station · CU serial number · date of poll · date of counting) [¶29(2)].

  Removing the battery is necessary so that it does not swell and damage the machine; removing it does not erase the result — the CU retains its memory [¶29(2)(i)].

• Permit candidates/agents to affix their own seals [¶29(2)(vi)].

10. One-page summary — the sequence to remember

Check the box seal
   → Take out the CU; show strip / special tag / pink seals to candidates
   → Verify CU serial number + Candidate Set seal
   → Open the inner cover → two paper seals
   → 🚨 Match paper seal serial ↔ Form 14-ग Part-I item 9 (let candidates match too)
        └─ no match → inform RO/ARO; do NOT decide yourself
   → Power ON (green light) → remove the seal over the result button
   → Press Result-1 → note candidate-wise + NOTA
   → 🚨 Fill Form 14-ग Part-II → total = Part-I item 5 ?
   → Counting supervisor signs → candidates/agents sign
   → Close cover, switch CU OFF
   → Hand Form 14-ग to RO/ARO

11. What this handbook does not cover

• 🔴 ~~Printed formats of Forms 14-ग, 21, 22, 23 etc. — these are in the Rules, which are not held~~ That statement was wrong (corrected 22.08.2026). These forms are held in this project, as page images under training/forms/. A worked specimen of Form 14-ग is at the Margdarsika's Appendix-8 (printed pp. 113–114). Still genuinely unheld: only Forms 19 and 20. 🔴 Corrected 23.08.2026 — this too was wrong. Forms 19 and 20 are printed in full in the ULB Manual (printed pp. 146–147) — with their original text → RO/ARO handbook §6.7. No form is now unavailable to this module. (GAPS §3)
• Scrutiny and rejection of postal ballots — that is the RO's work; see RO/ARO handbook §9
• Recount, declaration of result, lottery — the RO's work
• 🔴 ~~SDMM/DMM sealing method — letters 705 and 826 not available~~ Also wrong. Both letters are printed in full in the Compendium and have been read — SDMM / DMM Sealing After Counting — the procedure
• Chairperson / vice-chairperson counting — a separate process (GAPS §5)