The Supreme Court of India has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to preserve video clips of polling during the ongoing case against the decision to increase the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500. The order was passed on Friday by a bench consisting of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar.

Petition against increased voter limit

Indu Prakash Singh filed a case against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for increasing the number of voters at each polling station. In August 2024, the ECI made a decision to raise the number of voters per polling station. Singh argued that this change was not based on proper data and seemed unfair.

During the court hearing, the lawyer for the Election Commission asked for more time to reply to Singh's petition. The court agreed and gave the Election Commission three weeks to submit a written response. The court also ordered the Election Commission to continue keeping CCTV footage of the polling, just as it had been doing before.

“The counsel appearing for respondent number 1 prays for further time to file an affidavit. Let the affidavit be filed within three weeks from today. We deem it appropriate to direct respondent no. 1 to maintain the CCTV recordings as they were doing earlier,” the bench said.

Concerns over impact on voter turnout

Singh’s petition highlighted concerns that the increased number of voters per polling station could affect voter turnout in upcoming elections, including those in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Delhi. Singh pointed out that elections typically last for 11 hours, and it takes around 60 to 90 seconds for each voter to cast their vote. With this, a polling station with one Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) could process 660 to 490 votes in a day.

Singh’s petition also explained that the average voter turnout is around 65.70 percent, and in some cases, it can be as high as 85-90 percent. In such cases, long queues could force voters to either stand beyond voting hours or abandon their votes altogether. Singh stated, “Neither is acceptable in a progressive republic or a democracy.”

The Supreme Court had earlier sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission regarding the issue.