NEW DELHI: Overall
voter turnout data
for the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls, which was officially released by Election Commission on Tuesday, is the same as what was collated from
constituency-wise polling figures
on EC’s voter turnout app on April 20 evening for Phase 1 and April 27 evening for Phase 2, according to EC sources.
EC sources told TOI copies of Form 17C — which statutorily records turnout at every polling station in absolute numbers at the end of polling — are shared by
presiding officers
with all polling agents of the candidates present to ensure transparency.
After close of poll, first priority of the presiding officer is to return to the headquarters and deposit the
electronic voting machines
(EVMs) and all statutory and non-statutory papers.
Due to late arrival of polling parties or difficult geographical or weather conditions,
returning officers
have time available till midnight to fill up estimated voter turnout in the VTA. Such updation in many cases is not complete even till midnight as some parties from the
remote stations
may take more time to return.
Thus it is only on the next day after polling (P+1), and in some cases two days (P+2) that the returning officers scrutinise Form 17, including any complaints and concerns, in the presence of candidates and their agents and enter the polling station-wise turnout data.
Even this data may further get updated for any constituency where
repoll
is being conducted, on conclusion of repoll and arrival of parties.
After complete data entry, the returning officers submit the constituency-wise data which is instantly visible on the voter turnout app.
This time, for both the phases, the station-wise data was submitted on P+1 day. So while the turnout shown by the app at 12 midnight on April 19 and April 26 was 65.4%and 65.37%, respectively, the updated data submitted after all Form 17 records were scrutinised the evening after polling day was 66.14% for Phase 1 and 66.71% for Phase 2.
“There was absolutely no delay in such disclosure on poll day… the narrative about non-disclosure of data is completely unfounded, without proper appreciation of the system in place,” a senior EC functionary said. “ Leave alone constituency, even booth data of votes polled is available with the candidates and cannot be changed at any stage. Candidates use this data of votes polled station-wise to keep check on counting day,” the functionary added.
