VCK leader Thirumavalavan seeks explanation from ECI over discrepancies in voter turnout data

CHENNAI: VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Tuesday petitioned the Chief Election Commissioner, seeking clarification for the delay and discrepancy in publishing voters' turnout data.

He also insisted the Commission publish the voter turnout data within 24 hours of polling for the remaining phase of polling of general elections.

Recalling the earlier practice of releasing the voters turnout data within 24 hours of polling, the MP from the Chidambaram constituency wondered why the Election Commission of India (ECI) took 10 days to release the voters' turnout data for the first phase of polling on April 19 and four days after the second phase of polling on April 26.

"Why the commission fail to issue any clarification to justify the delay, despite being repeatedly questioned by political parties as well as political activities? When counting of votes throughout the country can be completed in a few hours, why can't the ECI give polling booth-wise numbers even though more than two weeks have passed since phase 1 of polling?" he asked in the petition.

Thirumavalavan, citing the media reports, said that the estimated voter turnout was around 60% and 60.96% in the first and second phases of polling respectively. However, the commission released data on April 30 stating that the polling percentage was 66.14% in the first phase and 66.71% in second phase.

It was contrasted to the ECI's projected voters turnout, he said and noted that the commission should explain the rational in this inordinate delay and sudden change in voting percentage as there was an increase of more than 5% between the data of conclusion of voting for the first and second phase of polling and the delayed release voter turnout data on April 30.

He further said that political parties and candidates in the fray were in the dark over votes polled in each assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency.

If there was transparency in voter turnout, it would have clarified whether the increase of voting percentage across the constituencies or only in constituencies where the ruling regime had not performed well in the 2019 polls, he wondered.

"We insist the ECI to publish the voter turnout data, including polling station wise, of the remaining phases of the election within 24 hours of polling, " he further said in the petition.