Maharashtra: ‘Unprecedented’ 76 lakh voter surge after close of polling

An unusual increase in polling figures between the close of polling and the counting of votes has been noticed in several assembly elections now this year — in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. So says economist and commentator Parakala Prabhakar, author of the book The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis.

In the 10 districts in Haryana where the BJP won 37 of the 44 seats, the average increase in polling was 10 per cent. In the remaining 12 districts where the BJP won 11 out of 46 seats, the increase was much less, he said in an interview with Karan Thapar for the Wire.

In contrast, in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP’s tally in the state came down from 62 to 33, the increase was less than 1 per cent — which has historically been the case in all previous elections across the country, he claimed.

The manual of the Election Commission of India states that slips should be handed out to every voter still in the booth, waiting in the queue to vote, at the time of close of polling. The last person in the queue should receive a slip with the number '1' while the voter at the top of the queue would receive the slip with the total number of voters still waiting to cast their vote.

The manual also states that videography of the voters in the queue must be maintained to prevent subsequent manipulation or infiltration of voters.

However, despite several attempts, said Parakala Prabhakar, the Election Commission of India has consistently stonewalled all enquiries, refusing to acknowledge memorandums submitted by citizens and civil society groups. The Commission has also consistently refused to share the slips or video footage to dispel doubts.

This unfortunately raises suspicion of malpractices and leads to speculation, casting doubts on the electoral process.

When polling officially closed in Maharashtra at 5 p.m. on 20 November, the provisional polling figure (rounded off) given out by the Election Commission was 58 per cent, which went up to 65 per cent at 11:30 p.m., and did not stop there.

Three days later on 23 November, hours before counting started, the final polling figure was put at over 66 per cent. The total increase in percentage terms was 7.83 per cent — which meant that almost 76 lakh voters cast their votes in the state after polling officially ended.

Historically, this has never happened in any past election and calls for a closer scrutiny.

The figures are unbelievable, suggested Karan Thapar. Even if one assumes that a thousand voters are in the queue at the close of polling across the state, he exclaimed, it would take 16 hours for them to all to cast their votes at the rate of one minute per voter! Only 360 voters at most can cast votes at that rate in every booth in six hours.

Former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi too expressed his surprise on India Today TV and pointed out that polling figures were real-time data. How can they change the next day, he wondered.

At any given point of time, he explained, the presiding officers should be in a position to state immediately how many votes had been cast until then. All that remains, then, is for the figures to be uploaded on the Election Commission’s dashboard.

He also pointed out that by 11:30 p.m. on the day of polling, all the EVM and VVPAT units are expected to be sealed and the booth’s Form 17C signed and handed over to the polling agents of the candidates. There is no way polling figures can increase after that.

Why, then, did the Election Commission take four days to update the final polling figure in Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency earlier this year, wonders Parakala Prabhakar. What could hold the Commission back from finalising the figures in a small, urban constituency like Chandigarh, he asked.

Both Parakala Prabhakar and Quraishi believe that the Election Commission must proactively answer these questions to dispel all doubt.

The Commission, however, seems not to believe it is accountable to the citizens of India, lamented the former.