It has been 10 days since April 19, the first phase of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, but the Election Commission is yet to officially disclose the final figure of polling. Similarly, for the second phase held on April 26, the final figure has not yet been released officially by the EC.

What is available on the EC mobile app is the “approximate trend” that the Commission had released as at 7 pm on the polling day in the first and the second phases.

On April 19, the Commission announced that at 7 pm, voter turnout was approximately 60 per cent. Similarly, on April 26, it put the polling percentage at 60.96 per cent as of 7 pm. However, after that, the Commission has not released the final/exact figure.

When contacted, a top ECI official told businessline that after collating data, the final polling percentage in the first phase is 66.14 per cent, and for the second phase 66.7 per cent. “We will place the final figures on our website as soon we collate,“ he added.

However, the “final figure”, as told to businessline, had not been uploaded on the ECI App till the time of going to press.

Crucial data ‘missing’

Crucially, other data too are missing both on the EC website and the EC Turnout app.

For instance, there is no data available on the EC website about how many voters are registered in a parliamentary constituency. Significantly, the EC website does not reveal the exact number of voters who cast their vote in the two phases, seat-wise.

When businessline tried to find the number of voters in each constituency, all we got was booth-wise electoral lists in some select States such as Uttar Pradesh. This data is not available for Odisha, Bihar or even Delhi. If one tries to find the number of voters for Bihar or Odisha, an error message flashes on the final page that is supposed to provide the information.

Furthermore, the EC website does not give an overall number of voters in each Lok Sabha seat. Only two figures are available — the total number of voters in a State and the number of voters in each booth. They are not collated either Assembly segment-wise or Parliamentary constituency-wise.

For instance, in UP’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district, there are three Assembly segments and in one such seat, Jewar, there are 395 booths. So, if one has to find the number of voters in the Jewar Assembly constituency, one has to open 20 pages to scan. Each page has information on 20 booths. Then, a captcha has to be filled every time one clicks on a booth to find out the number of voters. The percentage of voter turnout for each Lok Sabha seat is not available on the EC website, but on the Turnout App which, however, does not allow taking a screenshot.

Voter turnout

According to an expert who has been working for reforms in the democratic system since 1998, speaking on condition of anonymity, the meaning of voter turnout in percentage term is useless unless one knows how many voters in a parliamentary constituency are registered or eligible to vote. “These are all basic information and were readily available until 10 years back,” he said.

Another expert, who runs an opinion poll agency and is also involved in election surveys, said they will also have to wait to analyse results of each phase as the only available information is the polling percentage as shared by EC for each phase. “There is no reason why a simple mobile app cannot be given to each booth officer to upload it from the spot once the polling is over and the data automatically compiled at a central location,” he said.

(With inputs from Shishir Sinha)