Presiding officers to update polling data every two hours to cut delays
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that it was introducing a streamlined, technology-driven system to provide timely updates on the approximate voter turnout percentage trends, which will reduce the time lag associated with the earlier manual reporting methods.
Under the initiative, the presiding officer (PO) of each polling station will directly enter voter turnout data on the new ECINET app every two hours on polling day. This will be automatically aggregated at the constituency level. The approximate voting percentage data will continue to be published every two hours as before, the ECI said.
The ECI said the voter turnout data will now be entered into ECINET by POs immediately after the close of poll, which will reduce delays and ensure that the approximate percentage of votes polled would be available on the updated Voter Turnout (VTR) app constituency-wise after the close of polls. Where mobile networks are unavailable, entries can be made offline and synced once connectivity is restored. This updated VTR App will become an integral part of ECINET before the Bihar elections.
Previously, voter turnout data was collected manually by sector officers and relayed to returning officers (ROs). This information was aggregated every two hours and uploaded to the VTR app. The polling percentage trends were often updated hours later, based on physical records arriving late in the night or even the next day.
Under the statutory framework of Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, presiding officers are required to furnish Form 17C, detailing the account of votes recorded, to polling agents, who are nominated by the candidates and are present at the polling station at the close of poll. While this legal requirement remains unchanged, the process of updating the VTR App, which had evolved as a facilitative, non-statutory mechanism to keep the public informed of the approximate voter turnout percentage trends is being streamlined to ensure faster updation.
