India, April 14 -- The provisional turnout in the recently concluded Kerala assembly elections stood at 79.63%, with service votes yet to be tallied, the state's chief electoral officer Rathan U Kelkar said on Monday.

The declaration came after criticism from political parties, including the CPI(M) and the Congress, that the figures of the final voter turnout in the state were not being published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on time.

Kelkar rejected any "undue delay" in the release of the final turnout data, while underscoring that the EC had acted at the maximum possible speed in collating and publishing the data. "The figures will be published as soon as returning officers complete the consolidation process, adding that b...