May 24th 2024.
Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea made by an NGO regarding the uploading of polling station-wise voter turnout data on the Election Commission's website during the Lok Sabha elections. The Court stated that it would not be feasible for the poll panel to gather the necessary manpower to fulfill this request.
A bench consisting of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma explained that they are unable to issue any directives at the moment as five phases of the elections have already taken place and only two remain. The Court adjourned the interlocutory application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms and stated that it would be listed before the regular bench after the elections. The Court also noted that the requests made in the application seem to be similar to the ones in the main petition that has been pending since 2019.
The bench expressed concerns about the difficulty the poll panel would face in mobilising manpower to upload the voter turnout data on its website. They also pointed out that granting any relief in the interlocutory application would essentially mean granting relief in the main petition, which is still pending.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission to respond to the NGO's plea within a week. The plea requested a direction to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on the website within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Association for Democratic Reforms had filed an interim application in their 2019 PIL, seeking directions for the poll panel to immediately upload scanned copies of Form 17C Part-I from all polling stations after the polls.
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