Why is the Election Commission not releasing voter turnout data in absolute numbers?
Chief electoral officers in at least five states have released these figures on their websites.
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In the Lok Sabha elections held in 2019, Andhra Pradesh went to polls in the first phase on April 11.
Provisional voter turnout data for the first phase, compiled on April 12 and released by the Election Commission of India on April 13, showed that 3,07,43,680 or 3.07 crore votes had been cast in Andhra Pradesh. This came to 78.14% of the total registered voters eligible to vote. The disclosure even cited the gender-wise breakup of the voters who had cast their votes.
Eleven days later, on April 24, 2019, the Election Commission of India released revised voter turnout data for the first phase of polling, both in absolute numbers and in percentages. For Andhra Pradesh, this came to 3,13,50,159 (3.13 crore) votes cast, a turnout of 79.88% of the eligible electorate.
On April 29, 2019, it released even more granular data showing the absolute number of votes cast in each constituency that had voted in the first phase, including in Andhra Pradesh.
Compare this with the Election Commission’s conduct in the 2024 general elections. Andhra Pradesh voted in the fourth phase on May 13 this year. That night, the Election Commission released data showing the approximate voter turnout as of 11.45 pm in each of the states where votes had been cast that day. For Andhra Pradesh, this was...
