Fact Check: Congress and Left liberals spread lies about abnormal voting pattern in Gujarat

New Delhi, Dec 19: A claim is in circulation that over 16 lakh voters had reportedly cast their votes in the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly Elections after 5 pm.

The message is being circulated by a select few trying to suggest that there was some abnormal voting pattern in Gujarat as a result of which the BJP won the state mighty and big.

Congress backed @achalshah06 tweeted on December 7, 1600000+ voted after 5 pm in Gujarat election's phase 2." He goes on to ask if this is an abnormal figure.

@tnwatch a Left backer also put out the same message. 'Over 16,00000 votes polled after 5 pm in Gujarat elections phase 2,' he said.

On December 10, The Hindu reported that the revised data from the Election Commission of India suggested that the voter turnout from the second phase of the polls had jumped by almost 6.5 per cent. It also said that 16 lakh people had voted after the 5 pm deadline. While the earlier data indicated that the voter turnout was 58.8 per cent, the revised data showed that the turn out was 65.3 per cent. No explanation was given in the report as to why this happened.

Congress leader Pawan Khera had on December 12 raised the same issue. In a statement he had said that the jump was unusual. "We were informed by the friends in media through their publications and some channels that in the last one hour of the second round of voting in Gujarat, we saw unprecedented rise in votes. 6.5 per cent at an average, but there are seats where you saw 11.5 per cent votes being cast in the last one hour, which is humanly impossible, because at an average per vote, 60 seconds are must. No one can vote in less than 60 seconds, he said while adding that there are polling booths in Gujarat where it took 25-30 seconds for one vote to be cast which is humanly impossible, " he had also said.

However there is nothing unusual about this. The jump after the closing of votes takes place due to delayed in the process of uploading the turnout numbers from each polling booth.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India had launched an application named Voter Turnout. Earlier, the 2 hourly approximate voter turnout used to be captured by the Returning Officers from Polling Station, thereafter the report used to be sent to District and then to Chief Electoral Officers. The CEO would then compile and send the report to ECI. The media, however, would get the approximate voter turnout only at the end of the day.

Voter Turnout application was launched mid-way during the Parliamentary Elections of 2019 and it completely transformed the way the voter turnout was shared with the media and citizens. With the launch of the Voter turnout, the turnout is auto-compiled as and when the Returning Officers enter the data. During the day, only percentage voter turnout is entered by the respective Returning Officers. The Voter turnout app is available both as an android and iOS mobile app, the ECI said on its website.

This means that the real time updates are not possible. Moreover it is important to note that even if polling closes at 5 pm, those still waiting for their turn are allowed to cast their votes. It should also be noted that data gets published at 7 pm and this is of those who have voted between 4 pm and the last standing voter who has joined the queue before 5 pm.