• The Election Commission is introducing a technology-driven system to provide timely updates on approximate voting percentage data which significantly reduces the time lag associated with the present method.

• This new process significantly reduces the time lag associated with the earlier manual reporting methods. 

• The EC said that the present manual method would lead to delays creating misperceptions.

How is it done presently?

• Under the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, presiding officers are required to furnish Form 17C, detailing the account of votes recorded, to polling agents, who are nominated by the candidates and are present at the polling station at the close of poll.

• While this legal requirement remains unchanged, the process of updating the VTR (voter turnout) app, which had evolved as a facilitative, non-statutory mechanism to keep the public informed of the approximate voter turnout percentage, is being streamlined to ensure faster updates.

• Till now, voter turnout data was collected manually by sector officers and relayed to returning officers via phone calls, SMSes, or messaging apps. 

• This information was aggregated every two hours and uploaded to the VTR app. The polling percentage trends were often updated hours later, based on physical records arriving late in the night or even the next day, leading to delays of four-five hours or more. 

How will it be upgraded?

• Under the new initiative, the presiding officer of each polling station will now be directly entering voter turnout on the new ECINET application every two hours on polling day to reduce the time lag in the updation of the approximate polling trends. 

• This will be automatically aggregated at the constituency level. 

• The approximate voting percentage data will continue to be published every two hours as before.

• Notably, voter turnout data will now be entered into ECINET by presiding officers immediately after the close of voting, before they leave the polling station.

• It will reduce the delays and ensure that the approximate percentage of votes polled be available on the updated voter turnout app constituency-wise after the end of polls subject to network connectivity. 

• Where mobile networks are unavailable, entries can be made offline and synced once connectivity is restored. This updated VTR App will become an integral part of ECINET before the Bihar elections.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)