- Monday, March 31, 2025
The final voting figures of the first and second phases of voting in the Indian Lok Sabha elections 2024 witnessed a surprising 5-6% jump when the Election Commission of India released the data on Tuesday (April 30), after a delay of 11 days and 4 days respectively.
By: indiaweekly.biz Staff
THE delay in the Election Commission of India’s release of voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the ongoing national elections in the country has been criticised by the opposition parties and on Friday (10), leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc are likely to meet the commission’s officials over their demand to promptly release the absolute voter turnout figures in the polls after each phase, news agency Press Trust of India reported citing sources.
The sources had earlier said that the meeting was scheduled for Thursday (9) but it was later changed.
A number of parties of the INDIA bloc, including the Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have written to the commission separately, expressing concern over the alleged “delay” in the release of the voter turnout data in the first two phases — held on April 19 and 26.
The commission asserted amid the controversy that booth-wise data of the “actual number of votes polled” is available to the candidates soon after the voting concludes.
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In a statement made last week, the commission also said it attaches “due importance” to the timely release of voter turnout figures after each phase of the poll, and said not just constituency, but booth-wise data of the actual number of votes polled is available with the candidates, which is a statutory requirement.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to leaders of various opposition parties on the issue of alleged “discrepancies” in the voting data released by the commission.
In his letter, Kharge urged the INDIA bloc leaders to “collectively, unitedly and unequivocally” raise their voice on the issue.
The EC officially shared the turnout figure for the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls on April 30. According to EC figures, a voter turnout of 66.14 per cent was recorded in phase one and 66.71 per cent in phase two of the ongoing elections.
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For the third phase of voting that took place on Tuesday, the EC’s voter turnout app on Wednesday showed that 65.55 per cent voting had occurred.
A press release on Monday by the EC also contained the total number of electors in every seat, along with the voting percentage figures.
Opposition parties have however also sought the details of the number of voters who exercised their franchise.
On Monday (6), the poll commission said it has added a new feature to its mobile application to exhibit aggregated phase-wise turnout for the ongoing parliamentary elections.
In a statement ahead of the third phase of polling that took place on Tuesday (7), it said the voter turnout figures are updated on its Voter Turnout App on a two-hourly basis till 7 pm local time on polling day.
However, the two-hour limit is removed after 7 pm and the turnout data is “continuously updated on arrival of polling parties”. After the close of polls, which may go beyond fixed polling hours to enable voters who have come in the queue well in time fixed for the close of poll, the polling parties return to deposit machines and statutory papers in the strong room, the commission added.
As mentioned above, the commission released the final voting figures for the first two phases when 190 constituencies went to polling on April 30, which was 11 day after the first phase and four after the second, and they stood as 66.14 per cent and 66.71 per cent, respectively.
In the 2019 elections, the turnout in the first phase was 69.4 per cent and that in the second was 69.2 per cent, the Times of India reported.
The commission had said after the first phase of polling that the voter turnout was around 60 per cent at 7 pm and that after the second phase was 60.96 per cent, The News Minute reported.
But a report by the Indian Express said that April 20, the poll body projected the voter turnout in the first phase at 65.5 per cent. Similarly for the second phase of polling, the commission projected the turnout at 66.7 per cent.
This irked the opposition.
Jairam Ramesh, a leader of the opposition Indian National Congress, said on X that it was for the first time that such a delay was witnessed in the commission’s releasing the final turnout figures.
“In the past, ECI used to publish the final voter turnout immediately after voting or within 24 hours,” he said.
On May 1, he said that the data released by the commission did not reveal the “breakup of the number of votes”.
Jairam Ramesh, the general secretary of the Indian National Congress said in a post on X, “In the past, ECI used to publish the final voter turnout immediately after voting or within 24 hours.”
Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the eastern state of West Bengal and supremo of the Trinamool Congress, called out the commission over the delayed release of the voting figures and questioned the abrupt increase.
“The EC gave a figure of polling percentage immediately after the elections. But yesterday, I came to know about the sudden jump in final voter turnout by nearly 5.75 per cent, which is worrying. The percentage has increased in places where voting was not in favour of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party),” she alleged at a rally in West Bengal, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
“Is this normal? What am I missing here?” tweeted senior Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien.
Political activist Yogendra Yadav, a former member of the Aam Aadmi Party, was not surprised by the commission’s revising the voting figures but was worried by the big delay.
Former Indian election commissioner Ashok Lavasa told Scroll news website that the commission has a process to calculate voting figures “almost immediately”. However, he added that sometimes, authenticating the data takes time. He did not want to comment much saying it all depended on the situation on the ground.
Lavasa, however, dismissed concerns about the chances of discrepancies in the number of votes counted and number of votes cast. “I do not understand the anxiety over turnout numbers. I do not think anybody can hide or manipulate these numbers,” he was quoted as saying by the Scroll.
Kannan Gopinathan, a former Indian Administrative Services officer, said either the commission failed to gather the polling data from all booths for 11 days or they were “sitting on the data”.
(With agency inputs)
