ECI finalises turnout data at 62.59 %, more than 24 hrs after polling ended

New Delhi: More than 24 hours after voting for the Delhi Assembly elections ended on Saturday, the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi on Sunday evening announced that the final voter turnout had been computed at 62.59 per cent of all registered voters as political parties continued to raise questions about the poll regulatory body's efficiency throughout the day.

Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh said that of the total 80.55 lakh male voters, 62.62 per cent had voted and the female voter turnout was finalised at 62.55 per cent out of a total of 66.35 lakh women registered.

As per the final tally of the ECI, the highest voter turnout of 71.58 per cent was recorded in the Ballimaran Assembly constituency, which comes under the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency; whereas the lowest voter turnout of 45.36 per cent in Delhi Cantonment constituency.

Other constituencies that recorded a turnout of above 70 per cent include Seelampur at 71.22 per cent, Mustafabad at 70.55 per cent and Gokalpur (SC) at 70.51 per cent.

Despite the unusual delay in finalising the voter turnout tally, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Saxena from the ECI maintained that the numbers were not delayed and that they were merely making sure the exact polling numbers are put out.

Saxena handles the IT-system, through which the turnout tally is updated by independent polling stations on the EC's Voter Turnout application.

Meanwhile, CEO Singh said that the numbers took a while for tallying because Returning Officers were busy scrutinising the votes after the last vote was cast, which was much later than the 6 pm cut-off. However, when asked about how many votes were cast after 6 pm and when the last vote was cast, the office of the CEO said that data is still being compiled for accurate release.

The office of the Delhi CEO also said that accurate voter turnout data was shared with polling agents of all candidates by way of Form 17C but there were scattered reports of some candidates not having received this data.

Interestingly, earlier in the day, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party raised questions on the ECI's efficiency in putting out the voter turnout numbers, claiming that such a delay had not been observed ever.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Absolutely shocking. What is EC doing? Why are they not releasing poll turnout figures, several hours after polling?". In a press conference, Rajya Sabha MP and senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh also claimed that there might be "deep conspiracy" behind the delay.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also took to the micro-blogging website to take a jibe at the poll regulatory authority as many BJP leaders were coming out with turnout data before the ECI.

He said in Hindi, "BJP leaders are giving voting statistics. On the other hand, the Election Commission has not been able to tell what percentage of voting took place even after 24 hours after the end of voting. Saying that data is being collected right now. What's going on @CeodelhiOffice? Are you waiting for the voter turnout data from the BJP office?"

Singh said, "Till now, whenever the elections have been held, the Election Commission used to declare the percentage of the voting. It has been 24 hours since the voting of the Delhi Assembly was completed, but the Election Commission is not ready to announce the voting percentage.

This is pointing towards a deep conspiracy. The Election Commission should explain why it has not yet announced the voting percentage. This is the first time in the history of 70 years, the Election Commission is not ready to announce the voting percentage."