New Delhi, India: The Supreme Court has adjourned pleas seeking the release of voter turnout data until after the Lok Sabha election. The pleas requested the Election Commission to publish this data within 48 hours of polling booth closure, starting from the next round of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. A vacation bench of the court reasoned that an immediate ruling could burden the Election Commission during ongoing polls and disrupt the process. Justices S. Narasimha and Sanjay Karol pointed out the similarity of the current petition by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) to a previous one by Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra in 2019, which remains unresolved.
The court emphasized that intervening during an election would not be appropriate and stated the applications would be heard after the election. The hearing included arguments from senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission, who criticized the petition as an abuse of law. Opposition leaders have raised concerns about discrepancies in voter data released by the poll panel, suggesting potential vote fraud. However, Singh argued that such claims were false and that data discrepancies were minimal.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Ms. Moitra, argued for the serious consideration of the petition. Nevertheless, the court expressed the need to be mindful of the ongoing election process and suggested that the matter could be addressed after the vacation period.
The dispute revolves around the prompt release of data from Form 17C and Form 17C (Part II) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, which record various details including the number of voters and votes rejected. These forms play a crucial role in ensuring the integrity of the election process by cross-checking the number of votes on polling day against the total accepted votes on counting day.
