CHENNAI: Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Monday clarified that the periodic provisional turnout figures that were provided by his office on polling day was based on projections from figures entered in a mobile application by Presiding Officers (POs) in polling stations across the state. Sahoo offered these clarifications after wide variations between provisional polling figures and final figures led to a lot of confusion on Friday.
In an interaction with reporters on Monday, he stressed that the entry of data in this mobile app was not a statutory or mandatory task for the POs. Many were not updating the data on the app since they were held up with other activities at the polling stations, he said.
The provisional figures provided through the day by his office were therefore based on projections from those polling stations that were feeding data into the app, he said. He contrasted this with the statutory task of POs filling form 17A (register of votes) and form 17C (account of votes recorded), which form the basis for authentic figures. He said the final figures will be provided by Returning Officers to political parties in all seats.
Only copies signed by ROs report final data, says CEO
Sahoo said even in the 2021 Assembly election, the provisional figures provided at 7 pm on polling day was around 69% but this was revised to over 72% the next day. He said the provisional figure was only to provide a trend and must not be treated as final. The signed physical copies provided by ROs are the authentic figures, he added. TNIE had reported on Sunday how the projections done based on a sample number of polling stations led to wide variations.
Surveillance teams in 13 dists
The Static Surveillance Teams and Flying Squad Teams, he said, have been withdrawn from all except 13 districts sharing borders with neighbouring states where elections are under way.
A total of 171 teams, divided into 57 teams working in three shifts, have been deployed in Tiruvallur, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Salem, Erode, Theni, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Kanniyakumari, Tirupattur and Nilgiris. On inquiries about political parties’ requests for re-polling in certain voting booths, the CEO said neither Returning Officers nor Observers have recommended conducting re-polls anywhere in the state.