NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear at 6pm a petition by Association of Democratic Reform which seeks uploading of authenticated voting percentage data at end of the polling day. In the plea, ADR has complained that Election Commission revised Phase-I and Phase-II data upwards by 6% creating doubts about possible replacement of EVMs.
The poll body had updated the voting percentage for Phase 1 of the elections after 11 days of actual voting and for the Phase 2 after four days of polling.
In a letter to INDIA bloc leaders, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had highlighted the delay in the release of the final voting percentages for the initial phases of the Lok Sabha elections, suggesting that such delays cast doubts on the credibility of the data provided by the poll panel. Kharge questioned the rationale behind EC’s delay in releasing the voter turnout data for the first two phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which were made public 11 days after the first phase and 4 days after the second phase. Additionally, he sought clarification from the Commission regarding the reasons for the delay.
The Election Commission had rejected Kharge’s charges and had accused the Congress president of creating impediments in the conduct of free and fair elections. The poll body had said Kharge’s allegations are unwarranted, without facts and ‘reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion’.