The Election Commission on Tuesday released the final polling percentage of Phase 1 and 2 of Lok Sabha elections 2024, prompting Opposition leaders to ask the poll body the reason behind for giving polling percentages 11 days after the first phase concluded.
According to the Election Commission (EC) 66.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase and 66.71 per cent in the second.
Officially sharing the turnout figure, the poll panel said in phase one of the elections, 66.22 per cent of male and 66.07 female electors turned up to vote. The turnout for registered third-gender voters stood at 31.32 per cent.
In the second phase of elections held on April 26, the male voter turnout was recorded at 66.99 per cent, while the female turnout stood at 66.42 per cent. As many as 23.86 per cent of the registered third-gender voters came out to vote.
In the 2019 polls, the turnout in the first phase stood at 69.43 per cent, while that of Phase 2 was 69.64 per cent.
Questioning the delay in release of voter turnout, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury asked why the absolute numbers of voters in each Parliamentary constituency were not put out, adding that "apprehensions of manipulation of results continue as total voter numbers can be altered at the time of counting."
"Finally ECI has put out the final voter turnout figures for the first 2 phases which 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 said in a post on X.
"Total number of voters in each constituency was always available on ECI website till 2014! ECI must be transparent & put out this data," Yechury added.
Activist-politician Yogendra Yadav, who is also a psephologist, said pointed to something "unusual and worrying".
"I have watched and studied Indian elections for 35 years now. While a difference of 3 to 5 % points between initial (polling day evening) and final turnout figures was not abnormal, we used to get the final data within 24 hours," Yogendra Yadav said in an X post.
"What is unusual and worrying this time is a) delay of 11 days (for phase 1 and 4 days for phase 2) in publishing the final figures, and b) non-disclosure of the actual number of electorate and votes polled for each constituency and its segments," he said.
"Percentages do not help in electoral audit. Yes, this information is recorded in Form 17 for each booth and is available with the candidates agent, but ECI alone can and must give the aggregate data to eliminate any possibility of fudging or discrepancy between voted polled and votes counted," he added.
Yadav said the EC owes an explanation for this inordinate delay and the sudden change in reporting format.
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.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said it is essential for the ECI to be timely and transparent about all election-related data, and it should come out with the figures and make them public.
"For the first time, even 11 days after the first phase of the polls and four days after the second phase, the final voter turnout has not been published by the ECI. In the past, ECI used to publish the final voter turnout immediately after voting or within 24 hours. Only approximate polling figures are available on ECI's website. What accounts for this delay," he asked in a post on X.
Phase 1 And 2 Voting
In phase one, 102 seats went to poll, while in phase two elections were held in 88 constituencies. The final voter turnout was not released by the EC, however, the "approximate trend" for April 19 was 60 per cent and for April 26 was 60.96 per cent.
According to the poll panel, out of 21 states and union territories which went to polls in the first phase, 11 recorded a higher turnout of women voters. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
In the second phase where 13 states and UTs went to poll, six registered a higher women voter turnout. These are Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Kerala and West Bengal.
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The EC made it clear that the final turnout will only be available post-counting with the counting of postal ballots and its addition to the total vote count.
Postal ballots include postal ballots given to service voters, absentee voters -- those above 85 years of age, persons with disabilities, those on essential services and voters on election duty.
Daily accounts of such postal ballots received are given to all candidates, it noted.
