'Unusual & worrying': EC finally reveals turnout figures for phase 1 & 2; opposition sees red

While the first phase recorded a turnout of 66.14%, the second phase recorded a figure of 66.71%, says the Election Commission.

The Opposition has questioned the Election Commission over the delay in announcing the final voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls. The phase of the election was held on April 19.

“This is the first time that even after 11 days of the first phase of polling and four days after the second phase, the Election Commission has not released the final data of voting percentage. Earlier, the Election Commission used to release the final data of voting percentage immediately after the polling or within 24 hours," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

According to him, the website only shows the total number of voters in a state and the number of voters in each booth.

While the first phase recorded a turnout of 66.14%, the second phase recorded a figure of 66.71%, the poll panel said. However, the panel did not release the total number of voters in each constituency.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury observed that the figures are “substantially, not marginally as is normal, higher than the initial figures”.  “… But why are the absolute numbers of voters in each Parliamentary constituency not put out? Percentages are meaningless unless this figure is known.  Apprehensions of manipulation of results continue as total voter numbers can be altered at the time of counting,” Yechury posted on X.

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Yechury said that till 2014, the Election Commission had shared the total number of voters in each constituency on its website.

Political activist Yogendra Yadav said it is “unusual and worrying” that there was a delay of 11 days in releasing the voter turnout data.

“I have watched and studied Indian elections for 35 years now,” Yadav said on X. “While a difference of 3% to 5% points between initial [evening on polling days] and final turnout figures was not abnormal, we used to get the final data within 24 hours.”

Yadav also said this information is recorded by the poll panel in Form 17 for each polling booth and is available with the candidates’ agents. However, he said that only the Election Commission can and “must give the aggregate data to eliminate any possibility of fudging or discrepancy between votes polled and votes counted”. The @ECISVEEP owes an explanation for this inordinate delay and the sudden change in reporting format,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress too question the polling data and its release timing. “Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien on X said, "Important. Four days after phase two ends, Election Commission releases final voting figures. A bump up (jump in turnout) of 5.75 per cent from what EC released 4 days ago. Is this normal? What am I missing here?" he asked.

Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged that the figures were inflated.  "The Election Commission released a press note that stated that 66% voting happened in the first & second phase of the election...It took around 10 days for the EC to release the data on the percentage of voting...After the first & second phases of the elections, the media said that there had been 60% voting. Now it is 66%, what is happening?” Sena’s Anand Dubey told news agency ANI.