The Election Commission of India (ECI) is implementing a technology-driven upgrade to its voter turnout reporting (VTR) process to provide more timely updates on voter turnout percentage trends. The new system leverages the ECINET App, requiring Presiding Officers (PROs) at each polling station to directly enter voter turnout data every two hours on polling day. This data will be automatically aggregated at the constituency level and published every two hours. Previously, data was manually collected and relayed, causing delays of up to 4-5 hours. PROs will also enter data immediately after the close of poll, before leaving the polling station. The updated VTR App will be an integral part of ECINET before the Bihar elections. This initiative aims to streamline the process, reduce delays, and ensure faster public communication of approximate voter turnout percentages. The legal requirement for Presiding Officers to furnish Form 17C to polling agents remains unchanged.
Key Entities Referenced
Election Commission: The organization responsible for upgrading the VTR sharing process and introducing a new technology-driven system for voter turnout updates.
Election Commission of India: The full name of the Election Commission.
03 JUN 2025: The date of the announcement.
PIB Delhi: Press Information Bureau, Delhi, the source of the information.
Shri Gyanesh Kumar: The Chief Election Commissioner.
Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961: The statutory framework requiring Presiding Officers to furnish Form 17C.
Form 17C: A form detailing the account of votes recorded, required to be furnished by Presiding Officers to polling agents.
Presiding Officers PROs: Officials required to furnish Form 17C and enter voter turnout data on the ECINET App.
VTR App: Voter Turnout App, a non-statutory mechanism for informing the public of voter turnout percentage trends, being streamlined.
ECINET App: A new app where Presiding Officers will directly enter voter turnout data every two hours on polling day.
Bihar elections: Upcoming elections in Bihar for which the updated VTR App will become an integral part of ECINET.
Sector Officers: Previously collected voter turnout data manually.
Returning Officers ROs: Previously received voter turnout data from Sector Officers.
Election Commission
Election Commission to upgrade VTR sharing
process
Posted On: 03 JUN 2025 5:21PM by PIB Delhi
The Election Commission of India is now introducing a streamlined, technology-driven system to provide
timely updates on the approximate voter turnout percentage trends. This new process significantly reduces the
time lag associated with the earlier manual reporting methods. The initiative aligns with the Commission’s
commitment to ensure timely public communication, which has often been underlined by the Chief Election
Commissioner, Shri Gyanesh Kumar on various occasions.
Under the statutory framework of Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, Presiding Officers
(PROs) are required to furnish Form 17C, detailing the account of votes recorded, to polling agents, who are
nominated by the candidates and are present at the polling station at the close of poll. While this legal
requirement remains unchanged, the process of updating the VTR App, which had evolved as a facilitative,
non-statutory mechanism to keep the public informed of the approximate voter turnout percentage trends is
being streamlined to ensure faster updation.
Under this new initiative, the Presiding Officer (PRO) of each polling station, will now be directly entering
voter turnout on the new ECINET App every two hours on polling day in order to reduce the time lag in the
updation of the approximate polling trends. This will be automatically aggregated at the constituency level.
The approximate voting percentage trends will continue to be published every two hours as before. Notably,
voter turnout data will now be entered into ECINET by PROs immediately after the close of poll, before they
leave the polling station which will reduce the delays and ensure that the approximate percentage of votes
polled would be available on the updated VTR App constituency-wise after the close of polls subject to
network connectivity. Where mobile networks are unavailable, entries can be made offline and synced once
connectivity is restored. This updated VTR App will become an integral part of ECINET before the Bihar
elections.
Previously, voter turnout data was collected manually by Sector Officers and relayed to Returning Officers
(ROs) via phone calls, SMS, or messaging apps. This information was aggregated every two hours and
uploaded to the Voter Turnout (VTR) App. The polling percentage trends were often updated hours later,
based on physical records arriving late in the night or even the next day, leading to delays of 4–5-hours or
more leading to misperceptions by some.
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PK/GDH/RP
(Release ID: 2133568)