In a bid to maintain transparency in electoral process, senior Congress leaders have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding that the Election Commission of India (ECI) be directed to upload Form 17C on its website immediately after polling ends.
Form 17C contains detailed information on the number of votes cast at a polling station.
The public interest litigation (PIL) also requests an interim order, urging Supreme Court to direct the central poll body to upload Form 17C for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 and all upcoming elections with immediate effect.
The PIL has been submitted on behalf of Amethi Congress MP Kishori Lal Sharma and Congress spokesperson Alok Sharma.
The petition states that to ensure the public availability of Form 17C, the Election Commission should be directed to upload it immediately on its website.
This, according to the plea, will enhance transparency in the election process and help prevent electoral malpractices.
Form 17 C refers to all the data given to polling agents on election day, including number of voters in each polling station, number of registered voters in an area, number of voters who didn’t vote, names of candidates and the votes received by each of them and number of votes calculated by an EVM and its identification numbers.
The form comes in handy whenever there is any legal challenge to an election result.
The plea highlights inconsistencies in voter turnout data published by the Election Commission, which have been observed in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
The petition argues that the non-disclosure of Form 17C by the Election Commission erodes public trust in the electoral process and violates the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
It further alleges that the Election Commission failed to publish this crucial data in the public domain or any government portal on the same day as the polling.