Gyanesh Kumar takes charge as Chief Election Commissioner at Election Commission of India in New Delhi on February 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The story so far:
In May 2024, in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court of India considered a petition by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking the publication of the first part of Form 17C, which includes booth-wise voter turnout data, on the Election Commission of India’s (EC) website, within 48 hours of polling.
What was the EC’s stand?
The EC flatly refused, saying that it was only legally mandated to share this form with polling agents representing electoral candidates, and not with the general public or the media. A year later, after Opposition outrage at alleged discrepancies in voter turnout and vote counts in multiple Assembly elections, the EC has told the top court it is prepared to meet with the ADR and fellow petitioner, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, signalling that the new Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is “ready and willing” to hear their demand.
What is Form 17C?
The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 mandates that a two-part form, recording voter turnout and vote count, is filled for every polling station; in the 2024 parliamentary poll, there were more than 10.5 lakh polling stations across the country. Part 1 of Form 17C is the Account of Votes Recorded, and is filled in by the presiding officer of each polling station, with a true copy to be furnished to every polling agent present at the close of the poll. It includes the identification number of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) used in that polling station, the total number of electors assigned to that polling booth, the number of votes cast as per the EVM, as well as the numbers deciding not to record their votes or who were not allowed to vote, and whether there are any mismatches between these numbers. It also includes the number of tendered ballot papers and paper seals.
The presiding officer, as well as every polling agent present are required to sign and validate this form, before it is placed in a sealed cover and transported to the returning officer, along with the EVM, to be held until the day of counting.
On counting day, Part 2 of Form 17C, titled the Result of Counting, is filled in by the returning officer. It includes the names of each candidate and the number of votes recorded in favour of each of them, as seen when the “result” button is pressed on the EVM. The returning officer must also state “whether the total number of votes shown above tallies with the total number of votes shown against item 5 of Part 1 [which is the number of votes cast as per the EVM on the day of polling] or any discrepancy noticed between the two totals.” Part 2 is signed by the returning officer, the counting supervisor, and each candidate or their counting agents.
Why do Opposition parties want this data to be published online immediately?
In July 2024, after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections, ADR conducted an analysis of voter data issued by the EC and arrived at the shocking conclusion that the number of votes polled tallied exactly with the number of votes counted in only five parliamentary constituencies across the country. In the remaining 538 constituencies, there were discrepancies seen; in 362 seats, the number of votes counted was cumulatively 5.5 lakh fewer than votes polled, while in 176 seats, there was a total of 35,000 extra votes counted in comparison to the votes polled.
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This is a miniscule fraction of the 64.64 crore votes polled across the country, and the EC dismissed them as occasional manual errors made by presiding officers or a failure to remove the votes cast when the mock poll was conducted. The majority of these discrepancies were lower than the winning margin in constituencies. “The margin of victory does not matter because winning or losing is not the important point. We believe that every vote matters, and should be accounted for,” says ADR founder and trustee Jagdeep Chhokar. The booth-wise information available in Form 17C will allow discrepancies to be pinpointed and accountability to be fixed, so that corrective action can be taken at the booth level, says Mr. Chhokar. Aggregating this data will show if there is any pattern of discrepancies in an election.
Opposition parties have raised a hue and cry about the significant differences in voter turnout as released provisionally through the EC’s mobile app or its press statements on the day of polling, and the final turnout figures declared days later; in the first phase of the parliamentary election, the final voter turnout was published 11 days late, and was up to 5% higher than initially announced. The EC’s published voter turnout data is also in percentage terms, not in absolute figures as recorded in Form 17C. The demand for Form 17C to be published immediately is meant to spotlight and prevent such discrepancies, though the EC says the issue of hard copies of Form 17C to polling agents on the day of the election ensures transparency.
“In theory, Form 17C is supposed to be given to polling agents. In practice, every party and every candidate does not have the wherewithal to hire a polling agent for each polling station. What the EC’s rule book says does not actually happen. Form 17C can be incorrect and there may be no polling agents, or only polling agents for the ruling party, or polling agents can be bought,” says Mr. Chhokar. “It is not just political parties that have a right to this information, but also the voter.”
What difficulties does the EC face?
The EC told the court that “indiscriminate disclosure” of the data could create chaos, warning that images of Form 17C published online could be morphed and lead to “widespread discomfort”. It noted that postal ballots are not included in Form 17C. The poll body also argued that it was not obligated to hand over the form to anyone but polling agents.
Former election officials also point to practical difficulties on the ground, admitting that some errors are inevitable. “There are about one crore poll workers involved in conducting a national election in India. Many are not well educated, and they are under extreme stress with all kinds of pressure being put on them at the polling station so they may commit blunders,” explained former Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat.
He said that the copies of Form 17C are sent overnight to the returning officer HQ and the next day, the election observer camps out and verifies the data recorded in Part 1 with the presiding officer’s diary and other documents as well as video recordings at the polling station. He then “rectifies” the data on Form 17C with “corroborating evidence”, a process that may take several days. It is not clear if polling agents are then asked to sign off on such “rectified” data. Mr. Rawat notes that political parties can collect Form 17Cs from their polling agents and publish them if they wish. “Mistakes will lead to disciplinary action against poll workers who are under stress and do not deserve it and (polling agents) will take flak from them next time. That’s why they want to put the ball in the EC’s court,” he said.
“We believe that every vote matters, and should be accounted for”
Published – March 23, 2025 06:44 am IST
