Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking to direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish the authenticated data of votes polled within 48 hours of election.
The plea stated that in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the ECI published the voter turnout data of the phases after several days. The data regarding the first phase of election held on April 19 was published after 11 days and the second phase of polling held on April 26 was published after 4 days. It added that there was a variation of over 5 percent in the final voter turnout data from the initial data released on the polling day.
The plea argued that the data as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase by about 5-6% as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 PM on the day of election. It contended that the inordinate delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5% in the ECI’s press note of April 30, 2024, and the absence of disaggregated constituency and voting station figures in absolute numbers, has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.
The plea further mentioned that the ECI’s refusal to release the absolute number of votes polled, together with the unreasonable delay in release of votes polled data, has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, 2024.
It underlined that these apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. It added that in order to uphold the voter’s confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all voting stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling.
The plea has been moved as an Interlocutory Application in the writ petition filed by ADR in 2019 alleging discrepancies in the voter turnout data regarding the 2019 General Elections.
Through the plea, the petitioner sought to direct the ECI to immediately upload on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all voting booths after close of election of each phase in the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It also asked to furnish tabulated voting station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha elections together with a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha election.
It also sought directions to the EC to upload on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- II which contains the candidate-wise Result of Counting after the compilation of results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.