Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Supreme Court Declines To Issue Directive To ECI On Voters Turnout Disclosure

New Delhi: In a big development amid the Lok Sabha elections going on in the nation, the Supreme Court has refused to issue any directives to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding a plea demanding the immediate disclosure of authenticated voter turnout records. The apex court emphasised the necessity of a “hands-off approach” as the Lok Sabha elections are currently underway.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Dutta and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to grant any interim relief to petitioners and said it could not interrupt the polls. The bench said that of the seven-phase elections, five phases are over, and the sixth phase is scheduled for Saturday.

The “hands-off” approach is needed in the middle of the election process, as observed the apex court while adjourning the application. The bench told the petitioner that the interim prayer raised in the present application was the same as the petition pending before it since 2019.

“Prima facie, we are not inclined to grant any interim relief since prayer A of the 2019 petition is similar to prayer B of the 2024 application. List the interim plea after (summer) vacation,” ordered the bench.

The apex court clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case apart from the prima facie view.

The apex court was hearing an application filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking disclosure of final authenticated data on voter turnout in all polling stations, including the number of votes polled in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 within 48 hours of the polling.

SC Rejects ADR’s Application

During the hearing today, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Election Commission of India (ECI), said that ADR’s application was based on “unfounded suspicions” and “false”.

Petitions like these are responsible for reducing the voter turnout because of the “continuous questioning of the process”, said Singh. He said such kind of attitude is causing damage to the public interest by always putting a question mark on the sanctity of the elections.

Earlier, ECI had filed an affidavit before the top court and said that voter turnout data based on Form 17C (records of votes polled in each polling station) will cause confusion among voters as it will also include postal ballot counts. The ECI had contended that there is no legal right that can be claimed towards publishing final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations.

On May 17, the Supreme Court asked ECI to file its response to the application seeking direction to immediately upload accounts of votes recorded at all polling stations after the close of polling of each phase.

(With inputs from agencies)