Inordinate Delay In Release Of Final Voter Data Raises Suspicion: ADR Moves To Apex Court Seeking Directions To ECI For Uploading Voter Figures On Website
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has filed an application alleging inordinate and unreasonable delay in the release of final voter turnout data by the Election Commission of India(ECI) and has sought directions to the ECI to upload the legible data of figures of voters on their website.
The application was filed by Advocate Prashant Bhushan in the pending writ petition filed in 2019. The Application states that “It is submitted 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 polling station figures in absolute numbers, has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.”
ADR prays for directions to the ECI to upload all scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-1, which is Account of Votes Recorded, and Part-2 of all polling stations after the close of polling of each phase in ongoing elections.
The Application also says that the ECI is not releasing the absolute number of votes polled, coupled with the unreasonable delay in the 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 30.04.2024.
The present Application was filed in the writ petition which is pending before the Supreme Court seeking directions for investigations of discrepancies and accurate reconciliation of data in the 2019 General Election.
The Application states that “Without the absolute number of voter turnout data, the general public cannot compare the number of votes polled with the number of votes counted as announced in the results and thus, discrepancies, if any, in the two sets of data (no. of votes polled at polling booths and no. of votes counted by EVM) can only be assessed when absolute numbers, and not merely percentages, for each constituency, are released by the ECI. It is respectfully submitted that unless the exact figures are brought in the public domain, percentage figures are meaningless for the voter.”
The Application further states that the All India Trinamool Congress has written a letter to the ECI calling upon the ECI to publish the total number of electors in each Parliamentary Constituency, the total number of voters as noted in the register of voters and the number of voters as per EVM for all PCs that have already gone to polls in Phases I and II.
Similarly, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has also written to other political parties questioning the increase in voter turn-out percentage and non-disclosure of the number of votes polled in numbers, it says.
"In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, EC released 2019 total votes polled data by comparing with 2014 data. Thus, the voter got properly compiled data showing the number as well as increase and decrease in the voting percentage. That the said data with absolute numbers was published on EC website under the head of “Final Voter Turn Out of Phase 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.”, it says.
The main Writ Petition, in which notice was issued on December 13, 2019, stated that "The petitioner seeks a direction from this Hon’ble Court directing the ECI not to announce any provisional and estimated election results prior to actual and accurate reconciliation of data. The petitioner further seeks a direction from this Hon’ble Court to the ECI to evolve an efficient, transparent, rational and robust procedure/mechanism by creating a separate department/grievance for the investigation of discrepancies in election data and for responding to the elector’s queries on the same..."
The election results declared before the actual authentic data on vote count has no statutory validity and this view is itself recognized by the Election Commission of India in the disclaimer of the ‘Result sheet’ as available on the website of Election Commission. That the language used in the disclaimer of ‘Result sheet’ clearly indicates that these election figures are provisional, based on estimates which are subject to change and has no statutory validity that "the data is estimated and subject to change", the Petition further alleged.
Cause Title: Association of Democratic Reforms & Anr. v. Election Commission of India & Anr. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1382 of 2019)