NEW DELHI: AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused the Election Commission (EC) of refusing to upload data on the number of votes polled in each assembly constituency in Delhi despite several requests.
As a follow-up move, the party said it has made a website which has Form 17C data from all 70 constituencies.
Notably, Form 17C is mentioned in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 (Election Rules), and has two parts — the total number of votes recorded on polling day and other details, and the number of votes for each candidate, which will help record the election results.
“EC has refused to upload form 17C and number of votes polled per booth in each assembly despite several requests. Aam Aadmi Party has made a website - http://transparentelections.in where we have uploaded all the form 17C of every assembly. This form has all the details of votes polled in each booth....This is something that the election commission should have done in the interest of transparency but it is unfortunate that they are refusing to do it,” the AAP chief said in a tweet.
In response to Kejriwal’s allegation, Delhi Chief Electoral Office said, “As per Rule 49S of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, all the Presiding Officer had furnished the account of votes recorded in Form 17C to the every Polling Agent present at the polling station on the day of poll. The rule has been complied in letter and spirit at every polling station in ongoing Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2025.”
It may be noted that the AAP and the EC are at loggerheads as the ruling party leaders have been alleging the Commission of being ‘biased’. A couple of days before the voting, AAP leaders said that the EC was once widely respected across the country.
The party leaders said that it was once led by figures like TN Seshan, whose name became synonymous with fair elections. The ruling party leaders said that under Rajiv Kumar’s leadership, the EC appears to have handed over the responsibility of contesting elections to the BJP.