Lok Sabha Elections: Plea in Supreme Court to publish votes polled within 48 hours of election

A plea has been filed before the Supreme Court of India seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disclose final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations including the number of votes polled in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 within 48 hours of the polling [Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. v Election Commission of India & Anr.].The application has been filed in light of the recent controversy surrounding the substantial increase in the final voter turn out announced by the ECI for the first two phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as compared to initial estimate announced on the voting day.The application highlighted that the data published on April 30 showed a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) of final voter turn out as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI on the day of polling. This coupled with the delay in announcing the voter turn out has led to concerns among voters and political parties about the correctness of such data. The application was moved by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) as part of its plea to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) so that citizens can confirm that their vote has been ‘counted as recorded’ and ‘recorded as cast’.The main plea was rejected by the top court on April 26.However, the new application has sought directions to the ECI to upload scanned, legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded), on its website. The data should be uploaded after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 elections and must provide constituency and polling station-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers and in percentage form, the application stated. Additionally, ADR has sought disclosure of the Part- II of Form 17C which contains the candidate-wise result of counting after the compilation of results. .In its application, ADR emphasised that such disclosure is imperative to ensure that the that democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities and to ensure free and fair elections.ADR alleged that there has been a dereliction of duty on the part of the ECI in declaring election results through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) based on accurate and indisputable data. To bolster this contention, ADR submitted that so far, the voter turn out data published by the ECI on April 30 was 11 days after the first phase and 4 days later for the second phase. The delay, coupled with the high revision rate 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, the application stated. The application also pointed out that the All India Trinamool Congress wrote a letter on May 6 to the ECI calling upon the ECI to publish the total number of electors in each parliamentary constituency, total number of voters as noted in register of voters, and the number of voters as per EVM for all the constituencies that have already gone to polls in phases I and II.Similarly, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had also written to other political parties questioning the increase in voter turn-out percentage and non-disclosure of number of votes polled in numbers, the application said. General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury also wrote a letter to the ECI raising concerns over delays and discrepancies in the release of voting figures by the ECI.It is ADR's argument that in view of these developments it is necessary to direct the ECI to disclose the data within 48 hours after polling is closed, so that voters' confidence does not erode any further.