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NATION MAY 31, 2024 | The Indian Eye 6

INDIAN ELECTIONS 2024

FORM 17C ROW:

Election Commission and Opposition

lock horns over voter data update

The poll panel filed the affidavit on an application by NGO Association for

Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking disclosure of final authenticated data of voter

turnout in all polling stations including the number of votes polled

OUR BUREAU the second phase of polling held on
April 26. It said that the data pub-
New Delhi
lished by the ECI in its April 30 press
he Election Commission of In- release showed a sharp increase (by
dia (ECI) on Wednesday filed about 5-6 per cent) from the initial
Tan affidavit in the Supreme percentages announced by it on the
Court saying disclosure of voter turn- polling day.
out data based on Form 17C (records Meanwhile, following the Elec-
of votes polled in each polling sta- tion Commission of India opposi-
tion) will cause confusion among vot- tion to a plea for public disclosure of
ers as it will also include postal ballot Form 17C, senior advocate and Ra-
counts. jya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Thurs-
The ECI in an affidavit filed be- day questioned the hesitation of the
fore the top court contended that apex poll body in releasing vote-re-
there is no legal right that can be lated data on its website.
claimed towards publishing final au- “The ECI has filed an affidavit
thenticated data of voter turnout in in the Supreme Court stating it has
all polling stations. no legal mandate to upload Form 17
It said uploading of Form 17C which is a record of votes polled at a
on the website can lead to mischief polling station. Form 17 is signed by
and that there are possibilities of Presiding Officer and given to Polling
images being morphed, which can Agent at the end of polling.
create “widespread discomfort and The information is also directly
mistrust”. CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu monitor the sent to ECI. Now why does the ECI
“In any electoral contest, the progress of polling (ANI) not put that data on website? What
margin of victory may be very close. is their hesitation or problem?”
In such cases, disclosure of Form 17C permit the giving of Form 17C to any Last week, the Supreme Court Sibal said while addressing a press
in public domain may cause confu- other entity. General disclosure of asked ECI to file its response on the conference.
sion in the minds of the voters with Form 17C to public is not contem- application seeking direction to im- “What can happen in the process
regard to the total votes polled as the plated by Rules, ECI told apex court. mediately upload account of votes is the number of votes that are count-
latter figure would include the num- The poll panel filed the affidavit recorded of all polling stations after ed would in fact be more than the
ber of votes polled as per Form 17C on an application by NGO Associa- the close of polling of each phase in number of votes that are polled. We
as well as the votes received through tion for Democratic Reforms (ADR) the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elec- don’t know what’s correct? But what
postal ballots. However, such differ- seeking disclosure of final authen- tion. is the hesitation of the ECI to put
ence may not be easily understood by ticated data of voter turnout in all The NGO ADR alleged inordi- that data on record, on its website.
the voters and may be used by per- polling stations including the num- nate delay in the publication of voter Nobody can morph it,” he added.
sons with motivated interests to cast ber of votes polled in the Lok Sabha turnout data of the first two phases of Sibal’s statement comes after the
aspersion on the whole electoral pro- Elections 2024 within 48 hours of the polling in the elections. ECI on Wednesday filed an affidavit
cess... cause chaos in the election ma- polling. The application said the voter in the Supreme Court saying disclo-
chinery which is already in motion,” The ECI sought dismissal of ap- turnout data for the first two phases sure of voter turnout data based on
the affidavit stated. plication filed by ADR saying that of the Lok Sabha elections were pub- Form 17C (records of votes polled in
If further stated that as per rules, certain “vested interests” keep on lished by the ECI on April 30, after each polling station) will cause con-
Form 17C needs to be given only to throwing false allegations at it to dis- 11 days of the first phase of polling fusion among voters as it will also in-
the polling agent and rules do not credit its working. held on April 19 and four days after clude postal ballot counts.

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