Poll body must reveal number of voters in first two election phases: Ex-Chief Election Commissioner

The Election Commission must disclose the total number of voters who exercised their franchise in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha election, India’s former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said on Sunday, according to The New Indian Express.

The Election Commission had released the final voter turnout percentages for the first two phases of polling – held on April 19 and April 26 – on April 30. However, it did not specify the actual number of electors or citizens who cast their ballots in each constituency.

Quraishi emphasised that this data should have been disclosed within 24 hours of polling, pointing out that this had been the norm before the 2014 general election. The poll panel’s failure to publish this information cannot be justified on any grounds, he said.

“The non-disclosure of the number of voters by the EC is unacceptable,” the former Election Commission chief said. “It is important to have the absolute number of voters for transparency.”

Similarly, Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the non-profit organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, also said that voting percentages had no meaning without information about the total number of voters.

“There is no conceivable reason for the EC not to publish the number of voters,” he said, according to The New Indian Express. “How can they calculate percentage...

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