Civil society group demands prompt release of complete voter turnout data by ECI

Hyderabad: A delegation of civil society members submitted a petition to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi demanding the release of ‘authenticated record of voter turnout figures.’

The petition has been endorsed by more than 4,000 people across various states.

Recently, the ECI has come under fire from Opposition leaders, activists and citizens for allegedly not performing its duties such as not releasing the data on voter turnout in absolute figures in the first and second phases of general elections and failing to take action on MCC violations by politicians and political parties during campaigning among others.

On May 11, as many as 400 postcards were sent to the Election Commission of India from Hyderabad as part of the ‘Grow A Spine or Resign’ campaign led by citizens and members of various civil society groups in the city. Hyderabad joined the nationwide postcard campaign from Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi demanding the ECI to action against alleged poll violations by various political leaders during the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

6% revision of voter turnout data raised doubts

A major issue highlighted by the group was the ‘large fluctuation in figures of voter turnout in the first two phases of the ongoing general elections.’

Elaborating on the issues with the data released by the ECI on voter turnout, the delegation wrote in its representation: “For the first phase of elections, the ECI, in its press note on the day of polling (April 19) stated that as of 7 pm, the estimated voter turnout was over 60 per cent. The voter turnout data published 11 days later by the ECI on April 30, provided a figure of 66.14 per cent – a jump of more than 6 per cent.”

“Similarly, for the second phase, on the day of polling (April 26), ECI stated that the approximate voter turnout was 60.96 per cent as of 7 pm, which was subsequently revised to 66.71 per cent in the press note of April 30. The inordinate delay in the release of voter turnout, coupled with the unusually high revision (of nearly 6%) sans any explanation in the ECI’s on April 30, has raised concerns and doubts among people about the voter turnout figures,” they said.

The ECI has not released voter turnout figures in absolute numbers for any of the four phases of Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections where polling has finished.

‘Public trust in the electoral process is key’

“We, therefore, urge the ECI to immediately upload on the commission’s website a scanned legible copy of Part I of Form 17C (account of votes recorded) of every polling station where voting took place in the first three phases. Further, for the remaining phases, this information must be publicly displayed on the ECI website within 48 hours of the close of polls,” the delegation stated.

They also demanded the ECI upload a scanned copy of the forms, a tabulation of the constituency and polling station-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers on the ECI website.

A delegation comprising Anjali Bhardwaj, Ashok Sharma, Shabnam Hashmi, Navsharan Singh and Amrita Johri submitted a petition to the ECI demanding immediate disclosure of authenticated records of voter turnout figures in absolute numbers as contained in Part I of Form 17C.