Assam Congress questions ECI's decision to withhold election data

Assam Congress leader Bobbeeta Sharma on January 12 raised serious questions regarding the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to withhold crucial information related to election results in Guwahati.

Sharma expressed concern over the absence of polling booth names and party affiliations in the Vidhan Sabha booth-wise election results in Form 20 for Assam since 2021. The same trend was observed in recent state elections for Kerala (2021), Goa (2022), Punjab (2022), and Karnataka (2023).

The Congress leader highlighted that until 2021, Form 20 included booth-wise results with polling booth numbers, names, and political affiliations. However, the ECI has discontinued this practice, providing only polling booth numbers and candidate names.

Sharma raised key questions on why the ECI is withholding this information, who benefits from it, and the impact on the legitimacy of EVMs.

The APCC emphasized that the absence of polling booth names hampers the ability of political parties, independent agencies, and research scholars to analyze voter behavior and EVM malfunctioning at the booth level. This, according to Congress, creates an unfair election environment as the government retains exclusive access to this crucial data for analysis.

The concerns also extend to the legitimacy of EVMs, with Congress questioning the transparency and necessity behind discontinuing the practice of including polling booth names and party affiliations in the election results.

In response, the APCC announced they would write a letter to the ECI demanding answers and urging them to include this data in upcoming elections. Additionally, the Congress party demands that the same transparency be maintained in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

It needs mention here that the press meet was attended by APCC Media Co-Chairman  Bedabrata Bora and General Secretary Media Netrarajan Choudhury.