SC to hear plea against EC on delay in sharing polling data on May 17

The Supreme Court will on May 17 hear a plea urging the apex court to direct the Election Commission to publish the absolute numbers of votes polled immediately after the elections.

According to LiveLaw outlet, the plea was filed by non-profit organisations Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan had sought an urgent hearing, but Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said the petition would be taken up on May 17.

The development comes days after the opposition parties raised concerns with the Election Commission over the delay in sharing the aggregate polling data.

According to the plea, the detailed data for the first phase of voting was disclosed 11 days after voting on April 19 and for the second phase, 4 days after the voting on April 26.

The petition said the "inordinate" delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over five per cent in the poll panel’s press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.

The non-release of absolute number of votes polled, coupled with the "unreasonable delay" in release of votes polled data, has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.

"These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter's confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling," it said.

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