EC's downward revision of Tamil Nadu turnout figures raises eyebrows

Voters wait in a queue at a polling station to cast their votes for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Chennai (PTI)

When the poll percentage of a state is revised after polling, it is generally revised upward. The revision accounts for the postal votes and the votes of those who entered polling booths before closing hours, but polled later. But, strangely in Tamil Nadu, after the first phase Lok Sabha election on Friday, the polling percentage came down, by 3.44% points later.

Though the Election Commission is supposed to release only actual real-time data, figures extrapolated from sample data was given on Friday, which was revised downward on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha elections: Complete coverage

“The data we have shared are approximate, based on the sample data from polling stations,” Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said on Saturday, explaining the data provided on Friday.

On Friday, Sahoo had said that the data collected till 7 pm are based on inputs from polling stations. But, as all polling stations were unable to send the data on time, therefore minor variations can be expected later, he added.

VIDEO | Lok Sabha Elections 2024: "Highest voting of 75.67 per cent has been recorded in Kallakurichi, next 75.44 per cent in Dharmapuri, and minimum is 67.35 per cent in Chennai Central, 67. 82 per cent in Chennai South. By tomorrow, we will be able to get an overall figure of… pic.twitter.com/57AQYEVTXX

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Chennai Central polling percentage dropped to 53.91% and Chennai South figure dropped to 54.27%. However, Dharmapuri data was revised upwards to 81.48 %.

Thoothukudi percentage jumped from 59.96% on Friday to 66.88% on Saturday, which is also unusual. Explaining the nearly 7% (6.92%) points difference, Sahoo said on Saturday that Thoothukudi data could not be updated by midnight and was updated only on Saturday.

This “approximate” percentage from “sample data” has raised a lot of doubt and suspicion in Tamil Nadu.

But the supposed discrepancy speaks to inefficient communication, and not to any polling irregularities. Vote percentages sometimes differ dramatically from one polling booth to the next, and the figures cannot be “approximated” from any sample size. This mistake in extrapolation set off speculation about the reasons behind the ‘discrepancies’ between the data released at the district-level and the initial, provisional data provided at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer soon after polling closed on Friday.