The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): On Friday evening, the Supreme Court conducted an urgent hearing and requested a response from the Election Commission (EC) within a week regarding a plea from an NGO. The plea demands the EC to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours after each phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The hearing was scheduled following lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s request earlier in the day, coinciding with an SCBA function to bid farewell to Justice AS Bopanna.
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud found the EC’s request for time to respond to the plea “fair” and allowed reasonable time for the poll panel to prepare. The case will be heard by an appropriate bench during the summer vacation on May 24, just a day before the sixth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls.
During the brief hearing, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the EC, argued that the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had made “absolutely false allegations” in their plea. He also mentioned a recent Supreme Court judgment led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, which addressed related issues. On April 26, the Khanna-led bench dismissed pleas for reviving paper ballots and for 100 percent cross-verification of electronic voting machine votes with the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT).
Bhushan opposed Singh’s submission, stating that the voter turnout data issue was not part of the previous petition. Earlier in the day, Chief Justice Chandrachud instructed the EC counsel to gather instructions and agreed to hear the matter later.
Last week, ADR filed an interim application in its 2019 Public Interest Litigation (PIL), seeking directives for the EC to upload “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)” immediately after polling. The NGO requested the EC to provide tabulated polling station-wise voter turnout data in absolute figures after each phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as well as constituency-wise figures of voter turnout.
ADR argued that timely release of voter turnout data is crucial to prevent electoral irregularities. The NGO highlighted delays in publishing voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The EC released the data on April 30, 11 days after the first phase on April 19 and four days after the second phase on April 26. The data showed a significant increase in voter turnout percentages, raising public suspicion regarding its accuracy.
The plea emphasized that the delay in releasing final voter turnout data, combined with the substantial revision in turnout percentages, has led to concerns among the electorate. To maintain voter confidence, ADR urged the Supreme Court to direct the EC to disclose scanned copies of Form 17C Part-I for all polling stations within 48 hours of polling conclusion.
Barabanki will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.
