EC urged to disclose authenticated record of voter turnout

Flagging their concerns over the ®uctuation in gures of voter turnouts in the

rst two phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha election, a group of civil society members and former bureaucrats have urged the Election Commission of India to “immediately disclose” through its website, the authenticated record of voter turnout as contained in Part I of Form 17C — which is the account of votes recorded in each polling station.

“We are writing to ®ag our concerns arising from the large ®uctuation in gures of voter turnout in the rst two phases of the ongoing general elections and to urge the Election Commission of India to immediately disclose through its website, the authenticated record of voter turnout as contained in Part I of Form 17C,” the letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar

and other Election Commissioners said.

As per Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, at the close of polling, the presiding o¯cer has to prepare an account of votes recorded in Part I of Form 17C and also furnish an authenticated copy of this to every polling agent.

The letter urged the ECI to immediately upload on the Commission’s website a “scanned legible copy” of Part I of Form 17C (Account of Votes Recorded) of every polling station where voting took place in the

rst three phases. “Further, for the remaining phases, this information must be publicly displayed on the ECI website within 48 hours of the close of polls”.

Signatories to the letters included transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan, and former bureaucrats M.G. Devasahayam, Sundar Burra, and Deb Mukharji.