Supreme Court: In an application filed by Association for Democratic Reforms (‘ADR’) seeking directions to 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 polling, the Division Bench of Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma,JJ. has refused to pass any interim order, as the interim prayer raised in the present plea was the same as the prayer already raised in the main petition pending before the Court since 2019.
The application highlighted that the data published on 30-04-2024 showed a sharp increase of final voter turnout as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI on the day of polling. The delay in announcing the voter turnout has led to concerns among voters and political parties about the correctness of such data.
The application has sought directions to the ECI to upload scanned, legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded), on its website. Additionally, disclosure of the Part- II of Form 17C which contains the candidate-wise result of counting after the compilation of results. It was 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.
The ECI submitted that there is no legal right that can be claimed towards publishing final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations.
The Court clarified that no opinion is expressed on merits apart from the prima facie view.
Source: Press
