No ghost voters, says Election Commission

EVM votes being counted near Mohali. 

“The provisional voter turnout data, reported on the ECI website, is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is an incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none,” the poll panel said.

The Election Commission on Saturday said there were no “ghost voters” in the Lok Sabha election, as reported in a section of the media based on the provisional turnout data uploaded on its website.

“The provisional voter turnout data, reported on the ECI website, is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers. Therefore, it is an incorrect inference to find ghost voters when there are none,” the EC said in a statement.

It said two categories of votes — those polled in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the postal ballots — are counted to determine the final result.

“The provisional voter turnout data is displayed as a percentage figure on the ECI website and the voter helpline mobile app on the poll day as uploaded by the Returning Officer/Assistant Returning Officer…” Based on the EVM votes and the postal ballots, the Returning Officer prepares Form 21E (the certificate given to the winning candidates) and the index card in which the break-up of the turnout is tallied to get the final turnout for each constituency. “For the General Election, 2019, the Commission has already directed all the Returning Officers on March 26, 2019, to send the index cards within 15 days of the declaration of the results,” the EC said.

The reconciliation of voters’ data has been completed in all States and the index forms of all 542 Lok Sabha constituencies are expected to reach the EC soon. They would be made public after compilation, it said.