New Delhi: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday, January 12, seeking an “answer” to why changes were carried out in Form 20, or the final result sheet, of the last assembly elections held in the north-eastern state.Unlike earlier elections, Form 20 of the 2021 assembly elections put out in public domain by the Commission withheld the name of the polling booths and also the names of the political parties to whom the candidates in the fray belonged.At a press conference held in Guwahati on Friday, APCC vice president and senior spokesperson Bobbeeta Sarma said withholding such information by the Commission can have “multiple dimensions”.“While the government will have access to such important data and thereby the ruling party, no opposition party or independent researcher can access it. Accessing the data booth-wise and party-wise can help a party or a researcher to get a micro-level understanding of the performance of a party/candidate in a particular voting station. If only those in the government can access it, it makes an election unfair as equal opportunity to do an analysis is lost,” Sarma said.Vice – President of Assam Pradesh Congress committee Mrs. Babita Sharma ji addressed the press conference at Rajiv Bhawan Guwahati… pic.twitter.com/HQ6wmYgNRd— Assam Congress (@INCAssam) January 12, 2024“To carry out any analysis of voter behaviour or EVM (electronic voting machine) malfunction, long-term specific booth-wise data is required. Once the identity of the booth is lost, such analysis of voting in a particular booth becomes virtually impossible,” she underlined.In the press meet state Congress leaders like APCC media co-chairman Bedabrata Bora and general secretary (media) Netrarajan Choudhury asked if there were reports of EVM malfunction at a particular polling booth and people doubt the election outcome, how can they even verify it on their won without the availability of clear polling booth name-wise data in the public domain.”The party’s leaders said since the 2021 assembly elections, the Commission has put out in public domain only the names of the contestants and booth numbers.Sample of the Form 20 of the 2019 Assembly election resultsForm 20 of the 2021 Assembly resultsTalking to The Wire, Sarma said on checking the Commission’s website the Form 20 of the 2021 Kerala assembly elections, Goa and Punjab polls in 2022, and the Karnataka polls in 2023, they found that the names of the polling stations and the political affiliations of the candidates were withheld too.“Since the practice was suddenly discontinued, we decided to write to the election commission asking why it is withholding such important information from the public, what has compelled it to do so, and who benefits from withholding the names of the polling booths,” Sarma said.In a press note, APCC said, “ECI should also ensure that in the coming Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the Form 20 election results will be published with the polling booth numbers along with their names as well as the names of candidates along with their political parties as was the practice earlier.”Sarma told The Wire that while a copy of the letter has already been mailed to the Commission’s headquarters in New Delhi, “a physical copy will be handed over to the state election commissioner in Guwahati after the press meet today (January 12)”.