The Supreme Court, on Friday, declined to issue any interim order to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disclose final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations.
Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma told the petitioner, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), that their interim prayer matched the one from 2019.
“Prima facie we are not inclined to grant any interim relief since prayer A of the 2019 petition is similar to prayer B of the 2024 application. List the interim plea after (summer) vacation,” the Court ordered.
The Bench was hearing an application by the NGO ADR seeking the disclosure of 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 ECI had previously informed the Court that there is no legal right that can be claimed towards publishing final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations.
In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the poll body stated that the disclosure of voter turnout data based on Form 17C (votes polled in each polling station) would cause confusion among voters as it would also include postal ballot counts.
The application by ADR was filed in light of the recent controversy surrounding the substantial increase in the final voter turnout announced by the ECI for the first two phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The application highlighted that the data published on April 30 showed a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) in final voter turnout compared to the initial percentages announced by the ECI on the day of polling.
This, coupled with the delay in announcing the voter turnout, has led to concerns among voters and political parties about the correctness of such data, the plea said.
ADR alleged that there has been a negligence of duty on the part of the ECI in declaring election results through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) based on accurate and indisputable data.
Earlier, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had queried the ECI counsel about the delay in posting voter turnout details.
