The Supreme Court on Friday refused a plea that sought directions to Election Commission to upload the voter turnout data based on each polling station on its website during the Lok Sabha polls.
The SC bench defending the poll body said that it would be difficult for them to mobilise enough manpower to conduct a new process and also stated that they did not want to interrupt the polls.
The plea was refused by a vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma who pointed out that five phases of polling have already been concluded and two are remaining so it cannot issue direction now.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
The top court adjourned the interlocutory application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) to be listed before the regular bench after the elections and pointed out that prima facie it appears the prayers in the application are similar to the main petition pending since 2019 on the issue.
“Granting any relief in IA will amount to granting relief in the main petition which is pending,” the bench said.
On May 17, the top court had sought within a week a response from the Election Commission on the NGO's plea seeking a direction to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The ADR has filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.
