Supreme Court declines to direct the ECI to disclose Form 17C records and asks to relist the application after summer vacations

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) bench adjourned an application seeking directions to the ECI (Election Commission of India) public disclosure of voter turnout data based on Form 17C on its website. The bench constituting Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said “In between elections, hands-off approach has to be taken. Let the application be heard along with the main writ petition. We cannot interrupt the process. Let us have some trust in the authority.” The bench declined to direct the ECI to disclose Form 17C records and asked to relist the application after summer vacations. During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave represented the ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms), Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Mahua Moitra (petitioner who alleged discrepancies in the voter turnout data of the 2019 General Elections), and Senior Advocate Maninder Singh represented the ECI. Earlier on May 22, 2024, the ECI told the SC bench that public disclosure of voter turnout data based on Form 17C would cause public discomfort and mistrust in the electoral process. After hearing the contentions today, the SC bench ordered “The arguments on the interim application were heard. Prima facie we are not inclined to grant any relief on the interim application at this stage in view of similarities of the prayer (a) of the interim application with prayer (b) of the writ petition out of which the Interim Application arises. The grant of relief in the interim application would amount to the grant of final relief. Relist the application together with the writ petitions before the appropriate bench after vacations. We have not expressed any opinion on merits except the prima facie view indicated above.”