New Delhi: On the eve of election results being announced in Delhi, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday (February 7), released the final voter turnout data, only hours after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the poll body of refusing to upload Form 17C, and Opposition MPs alleged that the voters in Maharashtra Assembly elections were more than the state’s adult population.
The EC’s data released on Friday evening, includes absolute numbers of total electors, votes polled and the final voter percentage. According to the data, a total of 94,51,997 votes have been polled and the final voter turnout is 60.54%. The figures released by the poll body however states that it does not include postal ballots, home voting, voters of essential services and those on election duty. Polling in Delhi was conducted on February 5.
Earlier on Friday evening, the AAP said that it had made a website on which it had uploaded all the data in the “interest of transparency,” an exercise that should have been undertaken by the EC.
“EC has refused to upload form 17C and number of votes polled per booth in each assembly despite several requests. Aam Aadmi Party has made a website – http://transparentelections.in where we have uploaded all the form 17C of every assembly. This form has all the details of votes polled in each booth,” said AAP national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a statement on X.
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“Through the day, we will present the data of every assembly and every booth in a tabulated format as well so that every voter can access this information. This is something that the election commission should have done in the interest of transparency but it is unfortunate that they are refusing to do it,” he added.
The chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi responded to Kejriwal’s charge and said that the poll body had complied with the rules though the data had not been made public yet.
“As per Rule 49S of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, all the Presiding Officer had furnished the account of votes recorded in Form 17C to the every Polling Agent present at the polling station on the day of poll, 5 Feb 2025. The rule has been complied in letter and spirit at every polling station in ongoing Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2025,” the Delhi CEO said.
Also read: ‘How Can Voters Exceed Total Adult Population of Maharashtra?’: Rahul Gandhi Trains Guns on EC
Earlier on Friday, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) held a joint press conference in New Delhi and alleged irregularities in the voter lists in Maharashtra and questioned how there were more voters in the state than its adult population. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accused the EC of “manipulating” the voter list.
The EC has faced criticism for significant delays in publishing voter turnout data and for discrepancies between the final figures and those released initially on polling day. In May, the poll body told the Supreme Court that there is no legal mandate for the commission to disclose voter turnout data based on Form 17C, or the record of votes polled in each polling station, and that such disclosure could be susceptible to misuse.
