New Delhi:

The Election Fee of India on Wednesday filed an affidavit within the Supreme Court docket saying disclosure of voter turnout information based mostly on Type 17C (data of votes polled in every polling station) will trigger confusion amongst voters as it’ll additionally embrace postal poll counts.

The ECI in an affidavit filed earlier than the highest court docket contended that there isn’t any authorized proper that may be claimed in the direction of publishing last authenticated information of voter turnout in all polling stations.

It mentioned importing of Type 17C on the web site can result in mischief and that there are potentialities of photographs being morphed, which may create “widespread discomfort and distrust”.

“In any electoral contest, the margin of victory could also be very shut. In such instances, disclosure of Type 17C in public area might trigger confusion within the minds of the voters with regard to the entire votes polled because the latter determine would come with the variety of votes polled as per Type 17C in addition to the votes acquired by means of postal ballots. Nonetheless, such distinction is probably not simply understood by the voters and could also be utilized by individuals with motivated pursuits to forged aspersion on the entire electoral course of… trigger chaos within the election equipment which is already in movement,” the affidavit acknowledged.

If additional acknowledged that as per guidelines, Type 17C must be given solely to the polling agent and guidelines don’t allow the giving of Type 17C to every other entity. Basic disclosure of Type 17C to public just isn’t contemplated by Guidelines, ECI informed the highest court docket.

The ballot panel filed the affidavit on an software by NGO Affiliation for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in search of disclosure of ultimate authenticated information of voter turnout in all polling stations together with the variety of votes polled within the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 inside 48 hours of the polling.

The ECI sought dismissal of software filed by ADR saying that sure “vested pursuits” carry on throwing false allegations at it to discredit its working.

Final week, the Supreme Court docket requested ECI to file its response on the applying in search of route to right away add account of votes recorded of all polling stations after the shut of polling of every part within the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The NGO ADR alleged inordinate delay within the publication of voter turnout information of the primary two phases of polling within the elections.

The applying, apart from delay in publishing the voter-turnout particulars, mentioned there was a pointy spike in figures from the preliminary voter turnout percentages launched by the Election Fee.

It sought a route to the Election Fee to supply tabulated polling station-wise information in absolute figures of the variety of votes polled as recorded, in Type 17C Half- I, after every part of polling within the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and in addition a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers within the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

It additional requested for importing on the ECI web site the scanned legible copies of Type 17C Half- II which contained the candidate-wise results of counting after the compilation of outcomes of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The applying mentioned the voter turnout information for the primary two phases of the Lok Sabha elections had been revealed by the ECI on April 30, after 11 days of the primary part of polling held on April 19 and 4 days after the second part of polling held on April 26.

It mentioned that the info revealed by the ECI in its April 30 press launch confirmed a pointy improve (by about 5-6 per cent) from the preliminary percentages introduced by it on the polling day.

The NGO identified the info revealed within the press launch by the ECI on April 30, 2024 (Section I voter turnout- 66.14 per cent and Section II voter turnout – 66.71 per cent) when put next with the preliminary information of April 19, 2024 and April 26, 2024 respectively confirmed a rise of almost 6 per cent within the Section I information and improve of roughly 5.75 per cent within the Section II information.

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