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The Congress on Wednesday said the Election Commission's "failure" to release voter turnout data in the same format as on previous occasions "frustrates the very purpose of it all" and hoped that political games are not being played through such data.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the ECI finally released the voter turnout data late last night after a completely unacceptable delay of 11 days for Phase I and 4 days for Phase 2.
"However, two issues have emerged in the ECI's latest data release. The number of registered voters per Lok Sabha and the assembly constituencies included in that Lok Sabha constituency have not been published along with the turnout data by the ECI, as is usually done. The breakup of the number of votes and not just the vote percentage, as is typically made available by the ECI -- is still not available," Ramesh said on X.
The whole point of releasing such data is to make it comparable over time, the Congress leader argued.
"The ECI's failure to release voter turnout data in the same format frustrates the very purpose of it all. One can only hope that political games are not being played through such data," Ramesh said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too criticised the Election Commission for the "delay" in releasing the final voter turnout figures for the initial two phases of the Lok Sabha polls.
She also expressed concern over the sudden increase in polling percentages during those phases.
"The sudden jump in final voter turnout by nearly 5.75 per cent from what the Election Commission had released earlier is worrying. There are apprehensions of manipulation of results by the BJP as several EVMs were missing for a long period," she said while addressing a rally at Farakka in Murshidabad district.
The TMC supremo stated that the sudden increase in poll percentage is not just "disturbing" but also raises "serious apprehensions about the credibility of EVMs".
"The details of EVM makers should be made public by the Election Commission as the BJP can stoop to any level to win elections," she said.
The commission in the evening made public the voter turnout of the first and second phases of polling held on April 19 and April 26.
According to the EC, a voter turnout of 66.14 per cent was recorded in the first and 66.71 per cent in the second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
Voting for the general elections is being held in seven phases, the remaining are on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.