False campaign being run to discredit LS polls: EC on turnout figure claims

New Delhi, Aug 4: A day after the Congress expressed concerns about the “sizable increase” in voter turnout after polling hours during this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) dismissed the allegations as part of a “false campaign”.
The poll body stated that the allegations are an attempt to undermine the largest and most transparently conducted elections in human history.
The ECI in a post on X said: “False campaign is being run by some (other than candidates) in furtherance of a design to discredit the largest elections ever held in the history of mankind in the most transparent manner involving candidates/ stakeholders at every stage of elections.”
“Unfounded attempts are made to compare the approximate turnout figure at 7 pm on poll day (when many PS might be closing the poll and/or voters waiting in the queue) with ‘End of Poll’ turnout available a day after poll day. Electoral data & outcomes are strictly as per statutory forms & procedures,” the poll body further said.
The ECI said: “While the legitimate means to challenge an electoral outcome by a candidate or elector is through an Election Petition u/RPA 1951, no EP is reportedly filed on such grounds. A lesser number of EPs have been reportedly filed in 79 PCs in GE 2024, as against 138 EPs in GE 2019.”
Earlier, on Saturday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary Sandeep Dikshit urged the Election Commission of India to address a report by the civil society group Vote for Democracy, Maharashtra, titled “Conduct of Lok Sabha Elections 2024”.
“Their main point is that the initial figures given on polling day and the final turnout figures differ a lot. In some phases, the difference was four per cent, some six per cent. This comes at a time when people swear by the EVM and say that everything is revealed through the EVM. I can’t believe that after 7 pm, 10 per cent votes were cast. This creates suspicion,” Dikshit said.
The Vote for Democracy (Maharashtra) released its detailed publication titled Report: Conduct of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 – Analysis of ‘Vote Manipulation’ and Misconduct during Voting and Counting in Mumbai on July 22 and brought into public domain alarming aspects concerning the alleged malpractices committed during the conduct of 18th general elections.
Among others, it flagged the questionable role of the ECI and Returning Officers, the stark differences between votes registered in EVMs and the actual counted votes, and the massive hikes of votes in every phase of the elections with breakups state-wise and nationally. Teesta Seetlavad has issued a detailed note outlining the alleged irregularities.
The report pointedly referred to a hike of a staggering total of five crore votes between initial and final voter turnout. After making an incisive analysis of such a confounding hike based on data and facts it persuasively opined that it is suggestive of significantly boosting the seats tally of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which got the majority mark to form government with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. (Agencies)