NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 6
The Election Commission of India is fully geared up for the Phase-3 of the Lok Sabha polls tomorrow-Tuesday. Weather conditions are predicted to be within normal ranges. However, for convenience for voters, meticulous arrangements have been made at all polling stations, including facilities like water, shamiyana, fans to deal with hot weather conditions.
The Commission has called upon voters to turnout in greater numbers at polling stations and vote with responsibility and pride. Ahead of Phase 3 polls, ECI has partnered with four major Telecom Service Providers—Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel Limited, Jio Telecommunication, and Vodafone-Idea Ltd. to facilitate messages, and voice calls featuring national and state icons, before and on polling days, to encourage voter participation. Commission also appeals to all organisations, startups, unicorns to actively participate in the outreach programme and become ambassadors and influencers of the ECI.
- Spread: 93 Lok Sabha seats, 17.24 crore voters, 1.85 lakh polling stations, 11 States/UTs
- SMS alerts and WhatsApp messages to nudge voters to go out and vote
- New feature added in Voter Turnout App to show aggregated phase-wise turnout also in addition to State/PC /AC wise figures
- Weather conditions predicted to be normal; Heat mitigation arrangement like water, ORS, shamiana made at each PS
- 75 delegates from 23 countries to see poll process
- ECI directs responsible and ethical use of social media platforms by political parties and their representatives
- Existing legal framework to deal with misinformation and synthetic content specifically brought to the notice of political parties
- Parties to remove fake content within 3 hours of coming to their notice
Disclosures and transparency are standard practices in ECI’s work. As per statutory requirements, voter turnout is to be recorded at every polling station in absolute numbers in Form 17C. As a strong measure of transparency, the copies of Form 17C, duly signed by Presiding Officer and all present polling agents, are shared with all present polling agents. Thus, booth wise data of actual number of votes polled is available with the candidates, which is a statutory requirement.
As a disclosure initiative for other stakeholders and media, State/PC/AC wise tentative turnout figures are made available through ECI Voter Turnout app which is available on following link:
It is pertinent to note that State wise/PC wise/ AC component within each PC, approximate turnout data is available on voter turnout App live. It is updated on the day of polling on two hourly basis till 7 pm. After close of poll, which may go beyond fixed polling hours to enable voters who have come in the queue well in time fixed for close of poll, the polling parties return to deposit machines and statutory papers in the strong room. The two hourly limit is removed after 7 pm and turn out data is continuously updated on arrival of polling parties.
Commission has added a new feature in Voter Turnout App to show aggregated phase-wise turnout also in addition to State/PC /AC wise figures. This is for better facilitation of media and other stakeholders who may need this customized information.
Polling is scheduled in 93 Constituencies across 11 States/UTs. It may be recalled that polling for Anantnag-Rajouri PC in Jammu and Kashmir was rescheduled to the Sixth phase. Also, there will be no polling in Surat PC, as the candidate has been elected unopposed. Betul PC will also go to polls in this phase since polling date for the PC was rescheduled from Phase-2 owing to the demise of a BSP candidate.
Remaining 4 phases of polls will continue till the 1st of June with counting of votes scheduled on 4th June. Polling for 189 seats was completed in a smooth and peaceful manner in the first two phases of the General Elections. Phase 3 will witness the visit of a large number of foreign delegates for experiencing India’s polling process and management. 75 delegates from 23 countries will visit polling stations in six states, as part of the International Election Visitor Programme.
Polling parties have been dispatched along with EVMs and poll materials to their respective polling stations. In Assam, Sashastra Seema Bal troops have been deployed on boats to polling stations in South Salmara Mankachar PC for the 3rd phase of elections. In Bihar, polling personnel navigated the river Kosi on boats to reach polling stations in Supaul.
ECI directs responsible and ethical use of social media platforms
Taking cognizance of the certain violations of MCC and the extant legal provisions by Political Parties /their representatives while using social media for election campaigning, the Commission today has issued directions to political parties for responsible and ethical use of social media in election campaigning to ensure level playing field among all stakeholders.
The Commission has also warned the parties against misuse of AI based tools to create deep fakes that distort information or propagate misinformation, emphasising the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process. The ECI has brought to the notice of political parties the existing legal provisions that govern the regulatory framework against the use of misinformation and impersonation using deep fakes. This includes the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, the Indian Penal Code and framework of the twin acts namely the Representation of People Act, 1950 and 1951 and the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct.
In view of the existing legal provisions, amongst other directions, the parties have been specifically directed to refrain from publishing and circulating deep fake audios/videos, disseminate any misinformation or information which is patently false, untrue or misleading in nature, to refrain from posting derogatory content towards women, to abstain from using children in campaigns, to avoid depicting violence or harm to animals.
The parties have been directed to promptly remove any such content within three hours of bringing it to their notice, warn the person responsible in their party, reporting unlawful information and fake user accounts to respective platforms, and escalate persistent issues to the Grievance Appellate Committee under Rule 3A of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
