SC refuses to direct EC to upload voter turnout details amid Lok Sabha polls
The court stressed that it was crucial to maintain a hands-off approach during the elections and that it would be challenging EC to allocate resources to upload voter turnout data on its website
The Supreme Court has declined an NGO’s request to instruct the Election Commission to post voter turnout data for each polling station on its website during the Lok Sabha elections. The court emphasized the need for a “hands-off approach” during the election period.
Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, who were presiding over the vacation bench, stated that they couldn’t issue such directives at this stage. This is because five election phases have already taken place and two are yet to occur.
Court Delays Review of Interim Application by Association for Democratic Reforms in Lok Sabha Elections
The court has decided to delay the review of the interim application submitted by the Association for Democratic Reforms until after the elections. The regular bench will then assess the application. The court noted that the requests in the application appeared to be similar to those in the main petition, which has been pending since 2019.
The court stressed that it was crucial to maintain a hands-off approach during the elections and that it would be challenging for the Election Commission to allocate resources to upload voter turnout data on its website. The court also noted that granting any relief in the interlocutory application would be equivalent to granting relief in the main petition, which is still pending.
The court expressed the need to comprehend the actual situation on the ground and not to overload the Election Commission by altering the process halfway through.
On May 17, the court asked the Election Commission to respond within a week to the NGO’s request that polling station-wise voter turnout data be uploaded on its website within 48 hours of the end of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Association for Democratic Reforms had submitted an interim application in its 2019 Public Interest Litigation, asking the Election Commission to upload “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I” from all polling stations immediately after the elections.
In its response, the Election Commission objected to the NGO’s request, arguing that it would disrupt the electoral environment and create disorder in the election machinery during the general elections.
The Election Commission stated that there is no legal requirement to provide Form 17C to anyone other than the candidate or their representative. It added that publicly posting Form 17C, which shows the number of votes cast at a polling station, is not provided for in the legal framework and could lead to manipulation and disruption of the entire electoral environment as it increases the chances of the images being altered.
The Election Commission emphasized that the petitioner is attempting to establish a right that does not exist in law by filing an application in the middle of the election period. It reiterated that, for several valid practical reasons, the result is declared based on the data in Form 17C at the prescribed time under the existing statutory rule regime.
The Election Commission further argued that the “indiscriminate disclosure” of voter turnout data for each polling station and its publication on a website would create chaos in the election machinery, which is already engaged in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
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