New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a cutting-edge, technology-driven upgrade to its voter turnout reporting system, with the revamped Voter Turnout App set to become a cornerstone of the ECINET platform ahead of the Bihar elections. Announced today, this initiative promises to deliver near-real-time updates on approximate voter turnout percentages, slashing delays that have long plagued manual reporting methods.
ECINET, an acronym for Election Commission of India Network, is a comprehensive digital ecosystem envisioned by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during the March 2025 Conference of Chief Electoral Officers. It aims to simplify access to electoral services for nearly 100 crore voters, election officials, political parties, and civil society by eliminating the need to navigate multiple apps and logins. The platform, currently in advanced development, is undergoing rigorous trials to ensure functionality, ease of use, and robust cybersecurity, with data entered solely by authorised ECI officials to maintain accuracy.
Under Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, Presiding Officers are required to submit Form 17C, detailing votes recorded, to polling agents at the close of polling. While this legal obligation remains unchanged, the Election Commission is revolutionising its non-statutory Voter Turnout App to ensure swifter public updates. Previously, Sector Officers manually collected data, relaying it to Returning Officers via phone calls, text messages, or messaging apps. This process often caused delays of four to five hours, with updates sometimes trickling in late at night or the next day, leading to public misperceptions.
Previously, voter turnout data relied on manual collection by Sector Officers, relayed to Returning Officers via phone calls, text messages, or messaging apps, often causing delays of four to five hours. Updates sometimes arrived late at night or the next day, leading to public misperceptions. ECINET’s real-time data entry addresses these issues, offering near-instant insights into turnout trends. The platform’s integration of apps like Voter Helpline, cVIGIL, and Suvidha 2.0, which have collectively garnered over 5.5 crore downloads, underscores its potential to transform electoral engagement.
The new system requires Presiding Officers to directly enter voter turnout data into the ECINET App every two hours on polling day. This data will be automatically aggregated at the constituency level, maintaining the Commission’s practice of publishing approximate voting trends biannually. Crucially, final turnout figures will be entered immediately after polls close, before Presiding Officers leave polling stations, subject to network connectivity. In areas with limited mobile networks, offline entries can be synced later, ensuring seamless data flow.
The integration of the upgraded Voter Turnout App into ECINET marks a pivotal step forward, with the system set to be fully operational before the Bihar elections. By harnessing the technology of public communication, the Election Commission aims to bolster transparency and public confidence, offering voters near-instant insights into turnout trends across constituencies.
– global bihari bureau
