EC says it has no legal mandate to provide voter turnout data from each polling station
The poll panel also said that uploading records of votes polled in every booth on its website will add to its workload.
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The Election Commission on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there was no legal mandate to publicise Form 17C, which contains a record of votes recorded in an Electronic Voting Machine, and that the document could only be given to candidates or their agents.
The court was hearing a petition by non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, seeking that the Election Commission be directed to immediately release absolute voter turnout numbers. The plea was filed after there was a delay in publishing this data after the first two phases of polling.
The plea has demanded that the poll panel should disclose authenticated records of voter turnout by uploading scanned legible copies of Form 17C of all polling stations after each phase of polling in the General Elections 2024 on the Election Commission’s website.
However, on Wednesday the poll regulator said that there is no legal mandate to provide the Form 17C to any person other than the candidate or his agent.
Notably, lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who contested the Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur seat also moved the top court after the returning officer in his constituency refused to provide him with Form 17C. Polling was held in Rampur on April 19.
On Wednesday, the Election Commission told the...
