New Delhi, May 03 (UNI) Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury raised concern over delays and “discrepancies” in the release of voting figures of Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission of India saying, “In the interests of transparency and credibility of the process, it is incumbent upon the ECI clears the doubts that have arisen in this regard’.
In a letter written to Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner, Sitaram Yechury alleged that “The variation of six percent is unusual and raises some suspicion”
The Election Commission has come under scanner over the delay in releasing the voter turnout data for the first two phases.
The data came 11 days after the first phase polling on April 19, and four days after the second phase on April 26.
According to the Election Commission, the final voter turnout for the first phase was 66.14 percent, while it was 66.71 percent for the second phase.
After the first phase of polling in 102 seats ended on April 19, the EC said the voter turnout was around 60 percent as of 7 PM.
After the second phase on 26 April, the poll body said that the voting figure was 60.96 percent.
“It is really surprising that after an inordinate and unexplained delay of eleven days, the final figures for the percentage of votes cast during the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections have been made available. In the case of the second phase the delay was four days” the letter said.
The CPI(M) General Secretary said, “Unfortunately, the ECI has not come out with any explanation for the cause of this undue delay. What goes unanswered is also a surge of 6 percent from the initial figures that the ECI put out and the final figure”.
“In the interests of transparency and credibility of the process, it is incumbent that the ECI clears the doubts that have arisen in this regard”
Sitaram Yechury also demanded that the commission should provide state-wise, constituency-wise, and assembly segment-wise break-up of the initial and final percentage as well the number of votes cast.
“Further, it also needs to be clarified as to how much under which category this rise has taken place – EVMs, Postal Ballots, votes at Facilitation Centres for personnel on duty etc” he wrote.
