The Election Commission of India is set to revamp its Voter Turnout Reporting (VTR) system by introducing a real-time, tech-driven process aimed at minimizing reporting delays and enhancing transparency. This was announced today by Chief Electoral Officer Nandita Gupta, who highlighted the Commission’s focus on timely public communication.
As part of this initiative, the existing VTR App—a non-statutory tool used to share approximate voter turnout trends—will be integrated with the ECINET platform and upgraded to deliver faster updates. The Presiding Officers (PROs) at each polling station will now input voter turnout data directly into the ECINET App every two hours on polling day.
Additionally, PROs will be required to submit the final turnout figures through the app immediately after polls close, before leaving the polling station. This move is expected to significantly reduce the time lag in reporting and allow constituency-wise approximate polling percentages to be updated promptly on the VTR App—subject to network availability.
Nandita Gupta noted that this system overhaul aligns with the vision of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who has emphasized the importance of timely and transparent information dissemination during elections.
The updated VTR system is set to become fully operational before the Bihar Assembly elections. Previously, voter turnout data was collected manually by Sector Officers and relayed to Returning Officers via phone calls, SMS, or messaging apps—often resulting in 4 to 5-hour delays or more. The new digital process will eliminate these inefficiencies, helping to reduce misinformation and speculation during the critical voting period.
