EC may use D/L method for counting votes

New Delhi. Indian voters can hope to get the final figures for the fifteenth Lok Sabha within forty minutes after the counting begins on Saturday. Calling it 'The 20-20 Vote Count', Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a new formula, which is reported to be similar to the Duckworth-Lewis method used in the cricket matches, to calculate the number of votes in case counting is not complete within forty minutes or is interrupted due to factors like bad weather or bomb blasts.

“We were criticized for holding a month long election, so we thought to hurry up the counting as no one seemed to be in a mood to wait till the final numbers came out. A lot of voters were complaining that they were sick of all projections and exit poll numbers being discussed on television channels and wanted the final numbers to be released as soon as possible. We decided to act fast.” Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla informed Faking News.

There were mixed reactions to the development. While some people thought that ECI should have stuck to polynomial functions due to the political nature of the mathematics involving multi-cornered fights in many constituencies, others thought that the formula used was a step in the right direction.

“I was waiting for the moment when the government formation moved beyond simple arithmetical calculations by the political class. Now we have calculus, trigonometry and statistics playing a part in politics. It’s so cool. Politics is now truly a number game.” Amresh Kumar, an investment banker expressed happiness over the move and congratulated ECI.

Interestingly, all news channels were unanimous in criticizing ECI for coming up with a formula that was ostensibly very difficult to understand. Faking News has learnt that all news channels had grand plans to discuss a lot of number possibilities throughout the day and take as much commercial breaks as possible while counting progressed, but the latest decision by the ECI has ruined their plans. Latest reports suggest that a few channels have invited numerologists to analyze the formula.