‘Hands off!’ says Supreme Court; refuses to pass orders on ADR plea for full voter turnout data in 48 hours of polling

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 24

Following a ‘hands-off’ approach, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass orders on Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) plea seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of polling for each phase of Lok Sabha elections.

“Let me tell you, this application will be heard after the elections…In between elections, hands off! We can’t interrupt the process. We are also responsible citizens. Let the application be heard along with the main writ petition. Let us have some trust in the authorities,” a Vacation Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SC Sharma told senior counsel Dushyant Dave, who represented ADR.

On May 10, ADR had filed an interim application in a 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)” of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.

However, the Bench was not convinced that it should be heard in the midst of elections.

“See prayer B of 2019 petition and prayer A of the interim application of 2024… keep them side by side. Earlier decisions of the Supreme Court stare at your face and say you cannot do this… 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,” it said.

The top court’s order came after senior counsel Maninder Singh pointed out on behalf of the Election Commission that it was a four-year-old petition in which an interim application had been filed merely on the basis of unfounded apprehensions about the electoral process.

“Was it permissible for you (ADR) to file an application in connection with a judgment where you are a party?... The trust in the election process has to be strengthened and not punctured. The EC takes steps on its own wherever it thinks fit. It came to the conclusion that these applications are merely apprehensions,” Singh said.

Pointing out that in its April 26 verdict on EVM-VVPAT the top court had questioned the bona fides of ADR, Singh urged the Bench to dismiss the plea as such continuous challenge to the electoral process could reduce citizens’ participation in the democratic exercise.

Asserting that there is neither delay nor difference in percentage of voter turnout data, the poll panel had on Wednesday urged the top court to dismiss ADR’s plea seeking voter turnout data under Form 17C as “such attempts demotivate voters.”

Responding to ADR’s plea, the EC had said, “There is neither delay nor difference in percentage of voter turnout data, more than what is inbuilt into the process, scale and magnitude in play.”

In an affidavit filed in the top court, the EC had said, “There is no legal mandate to provide Form-17 to any person other than the candidate or his agent. The petitioner is trying to create an entitlement when none exists in the law by way of filing an application in the middle of the election period.”

Contending that the reliefs sought by ADR amounted to interference in the electoral process, the EC submitted that the ADR’s application was not maintainable in view of express bar under Article 329(b) of the Constitution against any judicial interference in the electoral process from the date of issue of notification of election till the date of declaration of results.

The poll panel said that voter turnout disclosures are made through statutory, i.e., Form-17 furnished to candidates or his agents and non-statutory methods such as its voter turnout app, website and press releases which are continuously updated at an interval of two hours on polling day – the last being at 11.45 hours after waiting for the maximum number of parties to return.

It said, “Next day scrutiny of polling station level records is conducted before candidates. Voter turnout app continuously keeps reflecting data on live basis. On the other hand, Form 17-C is given to agents of candidates after the close of poll on polling day itself as per the statutory requirement and the information in Form 17-C gets set in stone,”

ADR had submitted that “The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling held on April 19 and 4 days after second phase of polling held on April 26. The data as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling.”

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