In a turning point, the Supreme Court has listed a bundle of petitions seeking the release of votes cast/claimed to have been cast/votes rejected, etc, within 48 hours of polling in each booth. The court has preferred to hear the matter once the currently ongoing Lok Sabha polls are over because of the burden that could be imposed on the Election Commission as of now.
The petitions, by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Trinamool Congress member of parliament Mahua Moitra, had addressed the EC to carry and display this data on its website after every phase of the polls.
The court noted that the subject matter of the present petition is quite similar to that of the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 754 of 2019 filed by the same petitioner, Moitra, whose status also remains unaddressed.
The Election Commission’s lawyer, who appeared before the bench to file an objection to the petition, accused the petitioners of frivolously pretending that there was irregularity in the voters’ register. The court said this as it released a ruling on the case, noting that it cannot interfere with mid-elections.
The action to postpone the hearing has elicited reactions from political actors and civil society organizations that have upheld the notion that the timely release of voter turnout statistics is critical to the transparency of the electoral process.
