The Election Commission said on Tuesday that it would streamlide its internal processes to collect voter polling data from polling booths, which will make public disclosure of trends starting with the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
The EC said in a statement, “This new process reduces the time lag associated with earlier manual reporting methods. The initiative aligns with the Commission’s commitment to ensure public communication on time, which has often been lined with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanash Kumar on various occasions.”
So far, voter polling data was manually collected through phone calls and messages, from polling stations to officers and returning officers. “This information was collected every two hours and was uploaded on the voter turnout app. The voting percentage trend was often updated after hours, late at night or the next day also on the basis of physical records, leading to a delay of 4-5 hours or more …” EC said.
In the new process, the presiding officers will be given admission to officers uploading data directly on the new ECINET app of EC every two hours. The data will be automatically collected at the constituency level and updated to the public on the app. The EC said, “In particular, voter polling data will now be recorded in the ECINET by professionals soon after the polling is closed, before they leave the polling booths, which will reduce the delay … where the mobile networks are unavailable, the entries can be made offline and once the connectivity can be sinked,” said the EC.
During the last year’s Lok Sabha elections, the opposition parties questioned the EC at the delay in releasing the final voter voting figures at the end of the voting.
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