EC warns SC: Voter data disclosure will cause chaos!

Women voter show ink-marked fingers. File pic/PTI

The EC told the Supreme Court that indiscriminate disclosure of polling station-wise voter turnout data and posting it on website will cause chaos in the election machinery which is already in motion for the ongoing elections.

The poll panel said that public posting of Form 17C - which gives the number of votes polled in a polling station - is not provided in the statutory framework and could lead to mischief and vitiation of the entire electoral space as it increases the possibility of the images being morphed.

EC also dismissed as false the allegation that the first two phases of the elections saw an increase of 5-6 per cent in the voter turnout data released on the day of polling and in the subsequent press releases for each of the two phases.

There's something fishy: Sibal

Kapil Sibal said EC not putting out the polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website has given rise to doubts among political parties that there is "something fishy" and wondered what the problem is in uploading the data.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever