It is quite insightful that the Supreme Court, in a particular way, concerned itself with the Hindi saying ‘aa bail mujhe maar (come, beat me)’ while expressing its concern over the Election Commission’s mobile application that declares real-time data of the percentage of voter turnout.
This was stated by the vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, during a hearing of the plea, which sought a direction to the EC to put booth-wise voter turnout figures in numbers on its website during Lok Sabha polls.
Testing the voter turnout app during a previous hearing in a plea by an NGO requesting the SC to direct the EC to revert to using paper ballots during elections, Justice Datta posed a question to counsel for the EC, Maninder Singh, about the practice:
“I asked him specifically about the voter turnout app and demanded to know if there was a statutory provision to upload data in real-time,”
Responding to this query, Singh stated that there are no
“That day, I didn’t speak anything in the court, but today, I am not afraid to do so,” said Justice Datta while referring to the ECof India’s alleged reluctance to release the full voter turnout as soon as possible saying, “It’s like ‘Aa Bail Mujhe Maar’ (to invite trouble.
Election Commission, which Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the NGO, observed that people have complete faith in it and asked that it should not be misinterpreted. This is why people have the right to know and use the information in their best interest.
As for me, I don’t understand why we should be deprived of participating in election activities if we are capable of providing the necessary information that will help to enhance the election process.
As for Form 17C, it is worth noting that ECI can also report exact figures on this document. This part might be updated using modern technological advancements. The numbers appear to make some people worried,’ he said to me.
The apex court observation comes amid unending discussion and analysis of the level of electoral reforms in India, especially the fairness of the exercise.
