New Delhi: The Election Commission, in its interim response on Saturday to concerns raised by Congress regarding “arbitrary deletion and additions of voters” and increase in voting percentages between 5pm and 11.30pm on polling day in the recent Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections, reiterated that the electoral roll updation is a transparent process conducted with the involvement of all political parties. The commission has also agreed to meet with a Congress delegation to hear the party’s concerns regarding the polling process, EC sources said.
While ruling out discrepancy in voter turnout data, the poll panel clarified— just as it had when similar doubts were raised by Congress during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — that the gap in 5pm data and final voter turnout was on account of procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform statutory duties near the close of polling before updating voter turnout data.
The EC underlined in the letter sent to Congress’s law, human rights and RTI department, that the poll panel has, starting with the 2024 general elections, made it a standard practice to put out a press statement with updated voter turnout figures as of 11.45pm on polling day, as an “additional disclosure measure”.
Congress had flagged the twin concerns despite the varied results in Maharashtra and Jharkhand—while the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance had won a landslide in Maharashtra, the UPA alliance recorded a spectacular win in Jharkhand.
Even as the EC, in its response, tried to allay the concerns raised by Congress, it agreed to get the issues regarding the addition and deletion of voters, examined and keep the party informed of the outcome. It not only agreed to convey its detailed and final reply to the issues raised by Congress but also granted an in-person hearing to the party delegation, as requested, at 5 pm on Dec 3.
EC sources said the commission has agreed to meet a Congress delegation as it would like to hear what the party has to say on the concerns raised, in wake of the EC’s repeated clarifications. The commission will suitably articulate its reply so as to set all doubts to rest.
In its letter to Congress on Saturday, the EC recalled its last letter to the party dated May 10, 2024, wherein it had recorded the reasons for deviation in voting percentage at 5pm and at the close of polling day (around 11.45 pm). It reiterated that total votes polled at each polling booth were given by the presiding officer, before leaving the polling station, to the authorised agents of candidates in Form 17C Part 1, at the end of polling in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. “This cannot be changed… This number aggregates to final voter turnout which all political parties and candidates can verify,” stated the EC.
The poll panel further said EC takes employees on election duty from various departments of state govt for the conduct of elections. “The presiding officer, near the completion of polling at polling stations, performs multiple statutory responsibilities like filling up of various statutory forms, record keeping of activities in the presiding officer’s diary, sealing of the machines, etc before winding up the polling at the polling station. The data feeding from all polling stations into the voter turnout app, at this stage, thus takes time.”