Five press groups in India issued a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner today condemning the Election Commission for “not holding a single press conference” after three phases of polling.

Signed by the presidents of the Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corp, Press Association, Foreign Correspondents’ Club and Delhi Union of Journalists, the letter pointed out that the EC still hasn’t released “absolute number of votes polled” for the last three phases. The groups were “shocked and surprised” especially since this was “not the case in the past elections”.

“These developments have led to apprehensions in the minds of people about the fairness of the elections,” it said.

The statement also said: “Till 2019, the last general election, holding a press conference after voting in each phase was the normal practice...the citizens have every right to know what has happened on the voting day from the constitutional body, the Election Commission.”

The letter emphasised that it’s through press conferences that journalists can “get their doubts and confusions, if any, cleared” so they can file “error-free” copies for readers. It demanded that the EC “hold a press conference after every phase of voting” and also release the “entire poll data, including absolute number of votes polled and final percentage of voting” by the next date of polling.

“Such transparency is necessary to uphold the voters’ confidence in the electoral system,” it concluded.

The EC has been under fire recently, with the non-release of voter data snowballing into a controversy. After Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to members of the INDIA alliance about the delay in releasing data, the EC hit back at him for “blatant inaccuracies”. It also urged Kharge to “exercise caution and refrain in making such statements”.

In response, leaders from the INDIA alliance submitted a letter to the EC in an attempt to “ensure the sanctity and transparency of the electoral process”. The letter also asked the EC to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “repeated violation of Model Code of Conduct”.

Modi’s recent speech on Muslims being “infiltrators” and the Congress purportedly “redistributing” wealth to Muslims triggered a series of complaints with the EC. Watch this fact-check on Newslaundry of the PM’s most controversial speech so far during this election.