Hyderabad: With the Election Commission of India not holding a single press conference even after the completion of three phases of Lok Sabha election 2024, the Press Club of India has written a letter to the poll panel demanding that it addresses the media after every phase of elections, and release complete data the next day.
In the letter to the EC, the PCI said it was “dismayed at the Election Commission not holding a single press conference even after the completion of voting in three phases across the nation”.
The letter was signed by the presidents of the Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corp, Press Association, Foreign Correspondents’ Club and Delhi Union of Journalists.
“Till 2019, the last general election, holding a press conference after voting in each phase was the normal practice. India, being one of the largest democracies in the world and the general election considered as the "biggest festival of democracy", the citizens have every right to know what has happened on the voting day, from the constitutional body, the Election Commission of India,” the PCI said in the letter.
“It should be noted that at press conferences, the journalists get their doubts and confusions, if any, cleared which helps them report and write error free copy for their readers. They keep the citizens accurately informed and updated on the ongoing election. The Election Commissioners can also speak directly to voters via electronic media during a press conference,” it added.
Referring to the delays in the voter turnouts during the ongoing Lok Sabha election, the PCI said it was “shocked and surprised that the Commission has not been releasing the "absolute number of votes polled" in the last three phases”. “This was not the case in the past elections. These developments have led to apprehension in the minds of people about the fairness of the elections,” it said.
“In this context, we demand that the ECI hold a press conference after every phase of voting. Further, we demand that the entire poll data, including absolute number of votes polled and final percentage of voting, be released by the next day of the polling. Such transparency is necessary to uphold the voters' confidence in the electoral system.
We hope that you will agree to these demands and act immediately on them,” added the PCI.
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