Don't look for Ghost voters as there are none, says Election Commission

After getting trolled for several days as news reports questioned the mismatch between total votes polled and total votes counted on EVMs, and suggesting ghost votes were responsible for shocking results on many seats, the Election Commission finally released a statement on Saturday to clarify the discrepancies in voter turnout data.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) reasoned that the voting percentage data it put out on its website was only provisional and was subject to change.

"The provisional voter turnout data reported on the ECI website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final numbers," the EC said in a press release.

The EC said two categories of votes are counted to arrive at the final result -- those polled in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and those that are collected through postal ballots from service voters and also from the personnel deployed for poll duties outside their constituencies.

In the press statement issued on Saturday, the EC said that earlier it used to take months to collate authenticated poll data from all returning officers.

"Due to innovative IT initiatives taken by the Commission this time, the final data on votes counted has been made available within a few days of declaration of results."

It added that "reconciliation of voters' data for all Parliamentary Constituencies have been completed in all states and the Index Forms of all 542 Parliamentary Constituencies are expected to reach ECI from Returning Officers shortly, which after compilation, shall be immediately be made public by the Election Commission."

"The provisional voter turnout data reported on the ECI website is only the tentative number of voters and not the final number. Therefore, it is (an) incorrect inference to find Ghost voters when there are none," the EC said.

—With inputs from agencies

Setting The Record Straight

EC credits latest it mechanism for tentative data, but final numbers not in

• 2 categories of votes are counted to arrive at the final result -- those polled in EVMs and those that are collected through postal ballots from service voters and also from the personnel deployed for poll duties outside their constituencies 
• Provisional voter turnout based on the approximate percentage turnout figures obtained from Sector magistrates
• It is incorrect inference to find Ghost voters when there are none, ECI said