EC website recorded 450 million hits on counting day

New Delhi, May 18: Unlike in 2009 when it crashed within minutes, it was a smooth operation this time when the Election Commission website recorded 45 crore (450 million) hits on the morning of the vote count on Friday, making it the highest number of hits on any Indian website ever in a single day.

Unable to sustain the "excessive" hits last time, the Commission's website had crashed on the same day five years ago when votes were counted in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Wonder how it was smooth this time, here is the answer. It took a team of information technology experts, five in every state commission and 12 in the Delhi Headquarters of the Election Commission, a trustworthy human chain, and meticulous planning to turn the Commission online results in an impressive way, says a top EC source.

Starting 6 AM on May 16, the entire team was active in each state and at the Nirvachan Sadan Headquarters and in office till 6 PM the next day uploading the results coordinating between 989 counting centres and 1,029,000 electronic voting machine control units across the country until the last results were uploaded.

PTI