Some people’s job to create doubts: CEC Kumar on voters turnout data demands

NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said it is some people’s job to create doubts and asserted the systems in place at the Election Commission are strong to ensure no mistakes creep in.

He was responding to a question on doubts being cast on the turnout of voters in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“It is the job of some people to create doubts. Our system is strong, not from today, it has been there for the past 70-72 years,” he told PTI Videos.

His remarks come on a day when the poll panel on its own came out with Lok Sabha constituency-wise data on the number of votes cast in the first five phases of the elections.

The turnout figures came a day after the Supreme Court refused to issue directions to the Election Commission on an NGO’s plea for uploading polling booth-wise voter turnout data on its website.

The EC said that it has decided to further expand the format of turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every parliamentary constituency.

The CEC said that the matter was in the Supreme Court and it has delivered its verdict which is before everyone.

“All I can say is that there is no mistake in this, nor can there be any mistake,” Kumar said.

“But why did these doubts arise, how were they created, and how much negative impact it has on our voting and the atmosphere, how our entire energy is diverted, we will definitely tell this to the country one day,” he added.

While the EC had been issuing turnout percentage, there had been demands to make the actual number of voters in every phase public.

The top court refused a plea on Friday to direct the EC to upload Form 17C — which records votes polled per polling station — on its website. (PTI)