NEW DELHI: Election Commission on Tuesday put out a point-by-point clarification dismissing Congress’s concerns regarding the “inexplicable” increase in voter turnout between 5 pm and 11.30 pm on poll day in Maharashtra and also ruling out any “arbitrary” deletions and additions in the state’s electoral roll.
The party had approached EC after its drubbing in Maharashtra polls last month, claiming that the alleged “inconsistencies” had impacted the electoral outcome.
“It is stated upfront that there is no discrepancy whatsoever in the voter turnout,” EC said in its 65-page reply to the AICC’s law, human rights & RTI department, while adding that the data provided at 5 pm on its voter turnout app is only “interim data of approximate voter turnout (VTR) in the constituency/district/state at that point of time”.
Stating that polling continues for voters queued up at the polling station at 5 pm, EC said VTR has to “naturally lag” as it does not account for the actual additional votes polled between 5 pm and the close of poll. “Such trends are therefore never a substitute to the final data prepared in statutory Form 17 C at the close of poll…no change can be made in the VTR after copies of 17C are given at each polling station to authorised agents of the candidates,” said EC.
“Considering 5 pm data as the final voter turnout or as its closest approximation is merely a misconception,” EC underlined, putting out diagrams, charts and FAQs to explain the statutory processes that it asserted are watertight and carried out with full involvement of the political parties. It added that even voter turnout at 11.45 pm on poll day may not be final as scrutiny of election papers is done only on the next day.
EC explained that the safe deposit and securing of EVMs in the strong rooms being the first priority, the poll turnout data is updated on the app only from 7 pm onwards. “More so because exact voter turnout has already been shared with the agents of the candidates by presiding officer (in Form 17 C), thus ruling out any possibility of manipulation,” said EC.
On Congress complaint regarding the average addition of 50,000 voters in 50 assembly constituencies (ACs), of which Mahayuti won 47, EC said only six ACs saw over 50,000 additions. It added that copies of draft rolls as well as claims & objections were provided to Congress and its representatives “indeed participated in revision of electoral roll at various stages till (its) finalisation”.
Commenting on its public accusation that 47 seats with allegedly over 50,000 additions were won by Mahayuti, EC said that “such baseless accusations, coming from a national party of high standing, create unnecessary and avoidable doubts and anxiety in the mind of the public, even when the data is publicly available and shared with all parties”.
On Congress’s concerns regarding “arbitrary deletions”, EC said only an average 2,779 elections per AC were made on account of dead, shifted and duplicate entries, while strictly following the statutory process. Also, it said 26.4 lakh of the 48.8 lakh additions made to Maharashtra rolls since LS polls, were new and young voters in the 18-29 years age group.