Votes polled and counted didn't match in 32 seats in Maharashtra, Haryana, J&K in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The number of votes polled did not match the number counted on electronic voting machines (EVM) in 32 constituencies across Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir in the 2024 elections, according to internal Election Commission of India (ECI) records.
In another 19 seats, officials entered “0” or “nil” in the column meant to record how many voters walked into polling booths. That left the poll body with no way to cross-check the count, investigative portal The Reporters’ Collective reported.
The Reporters’ Collective said it examined returning officers’ reports for 467 Assembly and 63 Lok Sabha constituencies. That covers all but one of the 531 seats that went to the polls in the two states and the Union Territory in 2024, with the report for Devsar in Jammu and Kashmir that could not be traced.
Two tallies that must match
At every booth, polling staff keep two independent records. The first is the Register of Voters, or Form 17A. Each voter is entered in it serially after their identity is checked and their finger is inked.
The second is the total shown on the EVM control unit when the presiding officer presses the “Close” button at the end of polling. Both figures are entered in Form 17C.
Under the law, the two should tally. Small gaps are allowed for voters who enter but decline to vote (Rule 49-O) and for those stopped from voting for breaching secrecy (Rule 49-M).
Returning officers are required to scrutinise these forms the day after polling and can recommend a repoll to the ECI if they find red flags. No repoll was held in any of the 51 seats flagged.
Of the 32 seats with mismatches, fewer votes were counted than polled in 12. In the remaining 20, more votes were counted than polled.
Mumbai North, Badkhal top the list
The widest gap was in the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, won by Union minister Piyush Goyal. Internal records put votes polled at 18.11 lakh, while the result declared by the ECI showed 10.33 lakh votes, a difference of 7.78 lakh.
In Haryana’s Badkhal Assembly seat, the records showed 3.32 lakh votes polled against 1.60 lakh counted. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Dhanesh Adlakha won the seat by 6,181 votes over Congress’ Vijay Pratap Singh, who has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging “vote chori” and seeking poll records and closed circuit television (CCTV) camera footage.
In both seats, the figure entered as votes polled was the total number of registered electors, which would mean 100 per cent turnout. The declared turnout was about 57 per cent in Mumbai North and 48 per cent in Badkhal.
Four more seats in Maharashtra and Haryana showed the same pattern, the report said.
In Kaithal, which Congress’ Aditya Surjewala won by 8,124 votes over BJP’s Leela Ram, the records showed only 215 voters, while 1,67,285 votes were counted.
In the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, won by National Conference‘s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, 6,72,942 votes were counted against 6,66,046 polled. That is 6,896 more votes counted than cast.
Of the 19 seats with “nil” entries, 10 were in Maharashtra and Haryana. Seven of these were won by the BJP or the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Access to polling records faces restrictions
The Election Commission had earlier said that differences between votes polled and counted can arise when mock-poll data is not cleared from machines before voting, among other protocol-related reasons. It dismissed Opposition allegations of rigging in Maharashtra.
In a 1,600-page reply to the Congress demand for repolls in 20 Haryana seats, the ECI said every step had been carried out under the watch of the party’s candidates or agents.
ECI stopped publishing booth-level data after the 2019 general election.
During a Supreme Court hearing in May 2024, the Election Commission argued that making these records public could lead to mischief and vitiate the electoral process. Responding to a plea by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), it said the law did not require it to share Form 17C with anyone other than candidates or their agents.
On December 9, 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the poll body to give advocate Mehmood Pracha CCTV footage and copies of Form 17C relating to the Haryana polls.
On December 20, the Centre amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to limit public inspection to papers specified in the rules. Officials said the change was meant to protect the secrecy of the vote and prevent misuse of CCTV footage. Opposition parties and transparency activists called it a blow to transparency.