Voter turnout: ECI hits back at Cong's Mallikarjun Kharge for questioning integrity of electoral process
The Congress chief, earlier this week, had written a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc and claimed that there were discrepancies in the voting data released by the poll body.
- May 10, 2024,
- Updated May 10, 2024 5:47 PM IST
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressing deep concern over his recent statement questioning the integrity of the electoral process.
The Congress chief, earlier this week, had written a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc and claimed that there were discrepancies in the voting data released by the poll body. He shared the letter on X and had said that the "credibility of the Election Commission" was at an all-time low.
In reply, the poll body slammed Kharge for questioning the credibility of the electoral processes. It said that Kharge had "articulated statements which are actually verifiable and thus within knowledge to be incorrect, aimed at pushing a biased narrative, in the face of verifiable facts, as well as settled judicial decisions" by the Supreme Court.
“Commission fully respects the right to free speech and considers it to be the privilege of political parties and their leaders to correspond and communicate with each other. However, the Commission has a responsibility to act against developments which have a direct impact on delivery of its core mandate of conduct of elections in its entirety till delivery of results,” the ECI said.
The ECI added that it found a "pattern in creating false narrative" from the Congress during the elections in the past. It highlighted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala's claims during the Karnataka Assembly elections that the electronic voting machines (EVM) used in the polls were previously deployed in South Africa.
Based on the data provided by the poll panel, the voter turnout for the first phase of polling was 66.14 per cent, which is around 4 percentage points lower than the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Similarly, the turnout for the second phase was 66.71 per cent, indicating a decrease of approximately 3 percentage points compared to the 2019 elections.
Kharge asked why the final voter turnout increased by 5.5 per cent from the conclusion of voting, at 7 pm on April 19, to the delayed release of voter turnout data on April 30. Similarly, for the second phase, there was an increase of around 5.74 per cent from the conclusion of voting at 7 pm on April 26 to the delayed release of data four days late.
Not just Kharge, CPI (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar, expressing “surprise” over the “inordinate and unexplained delay” in the final figures for the percentage of votes cast during the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressing deep concern over his recent statement questioning the integrity of the electoral process.
The Congress chief, earlier this week, had written a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc and claimed that there were discrepancies in the voting data released by the poll body. He shared the letter on X and had said that the "credibility of the Election Commission" was at an all-time low.
In reply, the poll body slammed Kharge for questioning the credibility of the electoral processes. It said that Kharge had "articulated statements which are actually verifiable and thus within knowledge to be incorrect, aimed at pushing a biased narrative, in the face of verifiable facts, as well as settled judicial decisions" by the Supreme Court.
“Commission fully respects the right to free speech and considers it to be the privilege of political parties and their leaders to correspond and communicate with each other. However, the Commission has a responsibility to act against developments which have a direct impact on delivery of its core mandate of conduct of elections in its entirety till delivery of results,” the ECI said.
The ECI added that it found a "pattern in creating false narrative" from the Congress during the elections in the past. It highlighted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala's claims during the Karnataka Assembly elections that the electronic voting machines (EVM) used in the polls were previously deployed in South Africa.
Based on the data provided by the poll panel, the voter turnout for the first phase of polling was 66.14 per cent, which is around 4 percentage points lower than the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Similarly, the turnout for the second phase was 66.71 per cent, indicating a decrease of approximately 3 percentage points compared to the 2019 elections.
Kharge asked why the final voter turnout increased by 5.5 per cent from the conclusion of voting, at 7 pm on April 19, to the delayed release of voter turnout data on April 30. Similarly, for the second phase, there was an increase of around 5.74 per cent from the conclusion of voting at 7 pm on April 26 to the delayed release of data four days late.
Not just Kharge, CPI (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar, expressing “surprise” over the “inordinate and unexplained delay” in the final figures for the percentage of votes cast during the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections.