NEW DELHI: Election Commission has introduced a detailed disclaimer on its voter turnout app stating that trends displayed on platform are only approximate in nature and that no legal claim, action or liability of any kind shall arise or be maintainable on their basis.The disclaimer – which advises users to rely on official announcements and statutory documents like Form 17C (register of voters) issued by the returning officer at close of poll and provided to the candidates’ polling agents for any legal, electoral or official purposes – makes clear that turnout trends displayed by the app are not to be relied upon by any court of law, tribunal or quasi-judicial body for any legal or evidentiary purposes. “Only the results and records issued in the prescribed statutory forms by the competent electoral authorities shall have legal validity and admissibility,” it states. EC app requires user to accept the disclaimer to be able to view poll turnout trends.The disclaimer comes in wake of Congress’s complaints regarding discrepancies between actual voting percentage and that displayed by app during Haryana and Maharashtra polls last year. The party had particularly questioned surge in turnout after end of polling hours at 5 pm.As per the disclaimer, voting figures put out on the app are based on data received from a subset of polling stations, without factoring in postal ballots, and thus not final. “Data is dynamic and continuously updated,” it notes.For the actual number of votes cast, the public must rely on Form 17C, the EC says.
