Opposition slams EC for delayed voter turnout data; BJP hits back

BFP claims Opposition in panic as NDA predicted to secure 400 LS seats

The Congress, CPI(M) and the TMC have criticised the Election Commission over the delay in publishing the final voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls.

The commission made public the voter turnout of the first and second phases of polling held on April 19 and April 26.

Voting for the general elections is being held in seven phases, the remaining are on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. Counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.

"Finally, ECI (Election Commission of India) has put out the final voter turnout figures for the first two phases which are substantially, not marginally as is normal, higher than the initial figures," Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on X.

"But why are the absolute numbers of voters in each parliamentary constituency not put out? Percentages are meaningless unless this figure is known," he said.

Yechury alleged that apprehensions of manipulation of results continue as total voter numbers can be altered at the time of counting. Total number of voters in each constituency was always available on ECI website till 2014 and the commission must be transparent and put out this data, he said.

The EC stated that a voter turnout of 66.14 per cent was recorded in phase one and 66.71 per cent in phase two of the ongoing polls.