ECI reply to complaints regarding voter turnout exceeding 100% at some polling stations in Tripura

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, April 24, 2024

There was more than 100 percent voters turn out in few polling booths in 1- West Tripura Parliamentary Constituency voting held on April 19. The election commission has received a complaint from CPIM state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury regarding mismatch of polled votes in four polling booths during the Lok Sabha election in 1-West Tripura Parliamentary Constituency held on April 19. Similar issue has been highlighted in many media handles today.

The returning officer (RO) west Tripura Parliament constituency Dr Vishal Kumar in a press statement today said that the RO office has inquired into the issues in detail and assures that there is no discrepancy or subversion of the election process. According to the ROs press statement, a report has been obtained from ARO of all the four polling booths and it has been seen that the mismatch is because of the EDC (Election Duty Certificate) votes polled in these polling stations. The location of these polling stations is nearby the ARO headquarter or dispersal centre or strong rooms. In addition, many reserved polling personnel were deployed in nearby areas. Hence, these people have casted their votes in these polling stations through election duty certificate on the election date.

In the ENCORE application, the total electors have been taken as per the Electoral Roll i.e. total electors in the polling station. The ENCORE Nodal App is a valuable tool for nodal officers who are responsible for managing the permission process during election periods. It can help nodal officers to streamline the process and to make informed decisions about whether or not to grant permissions.

As per the RO office press statement, EDC is not added in the total column in ENCORE. However, EDC vote is added in the total vote casted. Hence, the % of votes casted has exceeded 100% in few polling stations.A factual report of polling station wise voting data issued by the RO office is as follows:

1.Part No. 44 of 10-Majlishpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC There were 68 EDC votes casted in addition to 498 normal Votes.

a) Total assigned Voters in 10/44: 545 b) Total Votes against assigned Voters: 498 c) Total Casting % for 10/44: 91.37% d) Votes of other Assembly segment (AS) casted in 10/44: 12.48% (for 68 EDC Votes) Therefore the voting percentage appears to be = 498 actual votes + 68 EDC = 103.85% 545 10/44- Birendranagar H S School being the nearest polling station from the ARO Headquarter, most of the reserve polling personnel and officials of ARO office on election duty preferred to franchise their voting right from there only. Hence, the high number of EDC Votes were seen.

2.Part No. 44 of 5-Kayerpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC There were 7 EDC votes casted in addition to 1053 normal Votes was 82.17%. a. Total Voters in 5/44: 1290 b. Total Votes casted: 1053 c. Votes of other AS casted in 5/44 (EDC Votes): 7 d. Total Casting % for 5/44: 82.17% Therefore the voting percentage appears to be = 1053 actual votes + 7 EDC 1290 = 82.17% 3.Part No. 25 of 5-Khayerpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC

There were 5 EDC votes casted in addition to 734 normal Votes was 87.97% a. Total voters in 5/25: 840 b. Total votes casted: 734 c. Votes of other AS casted in 5/25 (EDC Votes): 5 d. Total casting % for 5/25: 87.97% Therefore the voting percentage appears to be = 734 actual votes + 5 EDC = 87.97% 840 4.Part No. 38 of 2-Mohanpur Assembly of 1-West Tripura PC It is to mention that the said polling station 2/38 (Fakiramura JB School, South Wing) is situated in proximity of Swami Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, which is a dispersal centre as well as strong room of EVMs for all 3(three) Assembly Segments under Mohanpur Sub- Division. On the day of poll, all reserved polling personnel including staff deployed in the strong room and AROS officials have casted their vote through EDC in this polling station and due to this, percentage has gone to 108.84%. 63 number of reserved polling personnel including staff have casted their vote in this 2/38 polling station.

a. Total Voter= 452 b. Total vote casted by voters of 2/38= 429 c. Total vote casted through EDC = 63 d. Total Vote casted with EDC = 492 e. Therefore the voting percentage appears to be= 429 actual votes +63 EDC= 108.84% 452. In ENCORE, the total elector is the original number of elector in the polling station, EDC is not included. However, in the number of votes casted, EDC is included.

According to the ROs press statement, these polling stations were also scrutinized during the day of scrutiny on 20/04/2024 at 11.00 AM in the conference Hall of DM & Collector West Tripura in presence of the General Observer and representatives of all political parties. It was seen that the high voting percentage was because of the high number of EDC voters in the respective polling stations. However, these number were not included in the total electors list for the polling station in ENCORE. Hence, there has been no vitiation in the process and the elections were held as per due process of law, the ROs press statement claimed.