File.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Trinamool Congress joined the Opposition chorus raising the demand that the Election Commission of India (EC) publish the absolute number of voters who cast their vote, instead of the voting percentages that the poll panel has so far shared.
In its letter to the EC, the party cited Form 17C furnished to its polling agents in two booths in Coochbehar and Raiganj Lok Sabha constituencies, where information on the “number of voters voted” was “deliberately omitted”.
The Trinamool accused the EC of showing “rampant disregard” and a “lackadaisical attitude” in conducting the Lok Sabha election.
Criticising the delay in publishing the final voter turnout numbers, which came 11 days after the first phase and four days after the second phase on April 30, the party said “the report has no information about the total number of eligible electors and the actual votes cast.” The party called it a paradigm shift from the previous turnout reports. The surge of 5.75 percentage points has not been explained, which, the Trinamool said, raises “serious concerns and doubts”.
As per Rule 49-S of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, an account of votes in form 17C has to be furnished to every polling agent. This has to include details of the actual number of electors, number of voters who have voted and the total number of votes polled.
The party, in its memorandum, has given the examples of Raiganj and Coochbehar, where in the form 17C, information on “numbers of voters who voted” has not been given. This, the Trinamool alleged, has been “deliberately omitted”. The party said it is essential that the total number of voters who physically came to cast their votes as per the register is known to crosscheck it with the votes recorded in the voting machine.
The party has urged the EC to publish the total number of voters who physically turned up as per the “register for voters” and the number of votes as per the EVM for all the constituencies which have already gone to polls in the first two phases.