NEW DELHI: In a reform that promises to fix the delays in updating of voter turnout figures on poll day – a grouse often raised by Congress to question the electoral processes and EC itself – the poll panel Tuesday said it shall replace the manual reporting methods with a streamlined, technology-driven system that will provide timely updates to the public on approximate poll percentage trends.“This new process significantly reduces time lag associated with earlier manual reporting methods. The initiative aligns with EC’s commitment to ensure timely public communication, which has often been underlined by CEC Gyanesh Kumar,” EC said in a statement Tuesday. The faster voter turnout update system shall kick off with upcoming Bihar assembly poll.Reiterating its commitment to keep the public informed and ensure faster updation of approximate voter turnout trends, the poll panel explained that the presiding officer of each polling station will now directly enter voter turnout on the new ECINET app – which will bring 40 election-related apps, including voter turnout (VTR) app, on a single platform – every couple of hours on polling day as well as immediately upon close of poll. These updates will be automatically aggregated at constituency level.Uploading of voter percentage at close of elections, just before the presiding officer leaves the polling station, will eliminate the time lag between voter turnout at close of poll and updated/final voter turnout figures released by the Election Commission.
