Election Commission Willing To Release Polling Booth-Wise Voter Data, Says SC

The Supreme Court of India has stated that the Election Commission of India is willing to submit voter data based on polling booths.

The matter was heard by a bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, who called on the counsel for the poll body to file a representation for the EC regarding the next hearing.

This development comes after a plea was filed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra calling for the Election Commission to upload scanned, legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (account of votes recorded), on its website.

Based on Tuesday's hearing, the Supreme Court has called on the petitioners to make a representation to the Election Commission within ten days.

This comes after Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for ECI, said that a new Election Commissioner has been appointed and the petitioner can meet him to have their grievance redressed.

"List this on week commencing July 28. In the meanwhile, counsel for ECI state that the petitioners may file a representation with ECI and the ECI will give them a hearing and inform about same in advance. Let representation be made in 10 days," the Court order read as per Bar and Bench.

The plea was filed by ADR in May 2024 highlighting the controversy regarding the increase in voter turnout announced by the Election Commission during the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. As per the petition, the final data saw a drastic increase as compared to the initial estimate on voting day.

As per Bar and Bench, the plea by ADR highlighted that the data published on April 30 showed a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) for final voter turn out as compared to the initial percentages announced on the day of polling.

(With PTI inputs)