Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh on Sunday said there was no unusual delay in announcing the final voter turnout figure as the returning officers were busy scrutinising the data throughout the night to ensure its accuracy.
His remarks came after Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh questioned the "delay" by the Election Commissioner in giving the final voter turnout figure for the Assembly polls, and said it was suspicious.
Earlier, Singh said that this is perhaps the first time in the country's history that the Election Commission is not ready to release voter turnout data even after 24-hours of voting for the Delhi Assembly elections.
However, the Election Commission announced the final voter turnout in the Delhi which was 62.59 per cent soon after AAP allegation. In the 2015 Assembly polls, Delhi had recorded a voter turnout of 67.47 per cent.
Addressing the media, Singh has said that the party can smell a deep conspiracy as the Election Commission has not yet announced the polling percentage. "Till now, whenever the elections have been held, the Election Commission (EC) used to declare the percentage of the voting. It has been 24 hours since the voting of the Delhi Assembly completed, but the EC is not ready to announce the voting percentage.
Fearing a "deep conspiracy" behind the move, he demanded the EC to explain why it has not announced the voting percentage. "This is the first time in the history of 70 years, the Election Commission is not ready to announce the voting percentage", he said.
"Voting for the assembly elections in Delhi was held yesterday. The entire country and people of Delhi are waiting that the Election Commission would officially hold a press conference to announce the percentage of the turnout in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020," he said.
Singh said that the poll body used to announce the voting percentage on the same day be it Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha but for the first time in the history of 70 years, such a strange thing happened. "I remember that when the elections were held by the ballot papers, the EC used to announce the voting percentage even at such times. It is clear to understand that a conspiracy is being hatched inside," he alleged.
"It is not a lengthy process to calculate and announce the voting percentage. After the voting is over, the polling officers send the details of polling taken place at every booth, to the EC. After compiling the information given by all polling officials, the EC declares the voting percentage," he said.
Singh further said that the EC declared the voting percentage of the Lok Sabha elections held across the country but is not ready to provide voting percentage of just 70 legislative assemblies in Delhi.