The Opposition has renewed its questions on the increase in voter turnout after 6pm.

Addressing a media conference in Delhi on Thursday, Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal said: “Form 17C is signed by a presiding officer and given to the polling agent at the end of the poll, which indicates the number of votes polled. The information is also directly sent to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Now why does the ECI not put that data on the website? What’s the problem?”

He added: “What can happen in the process is that the number of votes that are counted would in fact be more than the number of votes that are polled. We don’t know whether that is correct or not. What is the hesitation of the EC in putting that data on its website? Nobody can morph it. That will be tallied with the data of the polling agent.”

Sibal’s comments came a day after the EC said in an affidavit in the Supreme Court: “…indiscriminate disclosure, public posting on the website increases the possibility of the images being morphed, including the counting results which then can create widespread public discomfort and mistrust in the entire electoral processes.”

Congress MP and communications head Jairam Ramesh posted on X on May 21: “This difference of 1.07 crore overall translates into an increase of 28,000 in each LS seat. This is HUGE. The discrepancy is maximum in states where BJP is expected to lose seats heavily. What is happening?”

Ramesh’s figure is based on the difference in the first four phases, between the final turnout and the turnout at 6pm when polling closes.

The EC had explained this in a reply on May 10 to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge who had raised the matter earlier.

The poll panel had said: “(i) There is always time lag in reporting of estimated data on poll day

(ii) Voters continue to vote even after 6:00 pm in long queue at many polling stations and can be verified by actual close of poll time recorded.

(iii) As polling parties arrive late night and report, data gets updated with actual numbers from Form 17C, replacing estimated voter turnout recorded on poll day (P), on P+1 day after scrutiny conducted in presence of candidates and observers, and even P+2 or P+3 day due to difficult geography and weather conditions.

(iv) Repoll data gets updated on conclusion of repoll, if any.”

The CPM cited a similar difference between the turnout at 6pm and the final figure in Maharashtra’s Dhule seat. CPM Maharashtra posted on X: “Why is there an increase of 85943 total votes polled in 24 hours.”

The CPM did not contest the seat. Polling agents of candidates get Form 17C for each polling station.

DMK minister P. Thiaga Rajan had posted on X on March 18: “Most candidates (especially smaller or non-tech-savvy parties and Independents) will simply not have the capacity to collect, collate, tabulate, and re-sort (by counting table) the Form 17 Data — EVM Serial #, Total Votes Polled — from 1,500 to 2,000 booths per MP Constituency, ahead of the vote counting process.”