EC NEEDS TO ADDRESS CONCERNS ON INTEGRITY OF ELECTION DATA

THE Election Commission's reluctance to place indisputable voting figures in the public domain by uploading Form 17 on its website unnecessarily prolongs the doubts and discussions about the authenticity of voting figures and the integrity of the electoral process.

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The EC needs to do everything possible to ensure public trust in the integrity of its data. The controversy over the authenticity of the commission's data erupted when it took 11 days after the first phase of polls and four days after the second phase to put out the final voter turnouts. The opposition parties questioned the inordinate delay in publishing the final figures, which in previous elections were made public within 24 hours of voting. Besides the delay, the final figure showed a sharp increase of more than 5 percent from the voting percentage announced by the commission at the end of the polling