“Data could be morphed if released…” ECI opposes release of booth-wise voter turnout data, claims there is no legal requirement

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday has opposed the publication of final voter turnout data of all polling stations before the Supreme Court, claiming there is no legal requirement and that it may also lead to ‘exploitation”. In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the ECI stated that disclosing voter turnout data based on Form 17C, including postal ballot counts, could cause confusion. The ECI had come under severe criticism from political parties for not uploading the final voter turnout data, a figure beyond the percentage figure.

“It is submitted that a wholesome disclosure of Form 17C is amenable to mischief and vitiation of entire electoral space. At the moment, the original Form 17C is only available in the Strong Room and a copy only with the polling agents whose signature it bears. Therefore, there is a one-to one relationship between each Form 17C and its possessor. It is submitted that indiscriminate disclosure, public posting on the website increases the possibility of the images being morphed, including the counting results which then can create widespread public discomfort and mistrust in the entire electoral processes”, ECI submitted before the court in response to the petition filed by ADR and Common Cause seeking immediate publication of voter turnout data.

The general convention so far has been that soon after the polling ended, ECI would release a data of voter turnout in percentage, however the fine data that historically came out a day later, accounted for every vote cast and would then show as number of voters who had turned out to cast their votes in form of voter turnout. It generally sees a spike. In the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the ECI published voter turnout data after several days. The data regarding the first phase of polling was published 11 days after the polling on April 19 and the data pertaining to second phase of polling held on April 26 was published after 4 days. Also, there was a variation of over 5% in the final voter turnout data from the initial data released on the polling day. Opposition had questioned if there were reasons for apprehensions. ADR and Common Cause had moved to SC.


The Supreme Court on May 17 had questioned the Election Commission to explain its inability to immediately upload the data on its website. The bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala, Manoj Misra directed listing of the matter on May 24 before a vacation bench, calling on the ECI to file its reply as affidavit as to why Form 17C data could not be disclosed. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on Friday.