'Can Negatively Impact Voter Turnout': Poll Panel Raps Mallikarjun Kharge On Voter Turnout Data Remark
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (Image: PTI file)
Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday castigated Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for “obstructing” the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Taking strong exception to Congress chief’s letter to INDIA bloc leaders over voter turnout data, the poll body termed it an attempt to “push a biased narrative” under the guise of seeking clarifications.
In a five-page response with annexures, the poll panel rejected charges of mismanagement and delay in the release of voter turnout data and termed Kharge’s allegations “unwarranted”, “without facts” and “reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion”.
The poll panel said it found Kharge’s letter, placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing electoral process, “highly undesirable” and designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.
“Through innuendos and insinuations, the contents of the post, tend to create disharmony in respect of the delicate space of election management, can plant doubts in the minds of voters and political parties and potentially created an anarchic situation, when you said ‘could this be an attempt to doctor the final results?’ which this Commission hopes you do not have any intention of,” the EC said.
Utterances can have a negative impact on voters’ participation and demoralize the large election machinery across states, it added.
The commission also refuted any delay in giving turnout data and pointed out that updated turnout data has been always higher than the poll day statistics and backed up the claim by releasing a “factual matrix” of data from elections, beginning with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
With all facts in place, the Congress President is attempting to push a biased narrative, the commission said.
Kharge’s Letter
On May 7, in a letter to leaders of all INDIA bloc parties, Kharge expressed doubts about ECI’s functioning and criticised the panel for not publishing actual voting data, the delay in releasing poll turnout data, and the non-publication of the final voters’ lists for the upcoming phases. He wondered whether all this was an effort to “doctor” the final results.
Calling all INDIA bloc parties to “collectively, unitedly and unequivocally” raise their voice against such “discrepancies” in a bid to protect the culture of a “vibrant democracy and the Constitution”, the Congress chief said the delay in publishing the final voter turnout statistics have raised doubts on the quality of data due to which the “credibility of ECI is at an all time low”.
The final voter turnout data came 11 days after the first phase and four days after the second phase of the Lok Sabha election, on April 30.
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