New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) declared on Sunday that there is an intentional misinformation drive to discredit the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The poll body wrote on X, “False campaign is being run by some (other than candidates) in furtherance of design to discredit largest elections ever held in the history of mankind in a most transparent manner involving candidates/ stakeholders at every stage of elections.”
The EC pointed out that “unfounded attempts” are being made to compare the approximate turnout count of voters at 7 pm on election day with the “end of poll turnout”, which is available a day after voting gets over.
“Unfounded attempts are made to compare approx turnout fig at 7 pm on poll day (when many PS might be closing poll &/or voters waiting in queue)with ‘End of Poll’ turnout available a day after poll day,” the Commission wrote.
“While legitimate means to challenge an electoral outcome by a candidate or elector is through an Election Petition u/ RPA 1951, no EP is reportedly filed on such grounds. A lesser number of EPs have been reportedly filed in 79 PCs in GE 2024 as against 138 EPs in GE 2019,” it added.
The EC’s statement comes in the wake of the Congress pointing to a report by a citizens’ platform. The report had raised posers about the marked increase in the Lok Sabha voting turnout percentages and requested the Election Commission to address the issue.
In a report last month, Vote for Democracy (VFD) Maharashtra had claimed that there were significant discrepancies between the votes polled and counted as well as a “substantial unexplained hike” in the turnout percentages, as per a PTI report.
During a press conference, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit had urged the Election Commission to dispel the doubts raised in the report. Dikshit said as per the analysis, there is an unusually huge difference between the voter turnout count declared initially and the final figures, especially in some states like Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
