Election Commission releases voter turnout data after several days, questions raised on increased voting

The Election Commission has released the voter turnout data 11 days after the first phase of Lok Sabha elections and four days after the second phase of voting. Questions are being raised on the Election Commission for not releasing voting figures.

According to the Election Commission's release issued on Tuesday night, voter turnout of 66.14 percent was recorded in first phase for 102 PCs on April 19. Whereas in the Election Commission's release on April 19, the tentative figure of voter turnout across 21 States/UTs reported was over 60 percent at 7 PM. Many questions are being raised regarding the increase in voting percentage by more than 6 percent.

The Election Commission has released the data of the second phase of voting held on April 26 four days later. On the day of the second phase of voting on 88 seats, the Election Commission's release stated that an approximate voter turnout of 60.96 percent as of 7 PM was recorded. Whereas in the recent press release, the Election Commission said that a voter turnout of 66.71 percent has been recorded in phase 2 for 88 PCs. That means there is a difference of 5.75 percent in the voting figures of the second phase.

Questions are being raised as to why the Election Commission released the voting data after several days. And how the voting percentage increased to six percent. It can be assumed that it would have taken time to collect voting data from all the booths. However, the data of voting held on April 19 was released 11 days later on April 30.

Yogendra Yadav, a professor of political science, said that While a difference of 3 to 5 percent points between the initial (polling day evening) and final turnout figures was not abnormal, we used to get the final data within 24 hours. What is unusual and worrying this time is a delay of 11 days (for phase 1 and 4 days for phase 2) in publishing the final figures, and non-disclosure of the actual number of electorate and votes polled for each constituency and its segments. The Election Commission owes an explanation for this inordinate delay and the sudden change in reporting format.

Former member of Uttar Pradesh Planning Commission, Prof. Sudhir Panwar says that When the difference in voting percentage between tentative voting & final voting released by the Election Commission is converted into numbers, it assumes significance specifically in phase I constituencies where BJP is facing a tough challenge.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien also raised questions regarding the increase in voting percentage. He wrote on social media, “Four days after Phase 2 ends, Election Commission releases final voting figures. A bump up (jump in turnout) of 5.75 percent from what EC released 4 days ago! IS THIS NORMAL? What am I missing here?”

There may be some difference between the figures received till the evening of the voting day and the final figures. Because in many places voting continues for a long time. Collecting data from polling stations may take time. But this entire process should be completed by the next day.

Apart from this, the non-disclosure of the actual number of electorate and votes polled for each constituency also raises doubts. Even on the Election Commission's app which gives information about voting percentage, the data keeps getting updated for the next several days.   

In the 2019 Loksabha elections, the Election Commission uploaded voter turnout data in numbers and also compared it with the 2014 LS elections. But a drastic change has occurred this time and the Election Commission is providing voter turnout data in percentages. According to the release issued by the Election Commission on April 30, the final turnout will only be available post-counting with the counting of postal ballots and its addition to the total vote count.