# 343 voter ID cards found on Narmada banks, Congress seeks FIR 2026-10-25T15:21:10+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets A total of 343 voter identity cards were found abandoned on the banks of the Narmada River in Mandleshwar town, Khargone district, on Sunday, 25 October 2026, triggering a political row. Residents collected the cards during a cleanliness drive by the Niswarth Seva Samiti and informed the administration. A video of the recovered cards went viral on social media. The Congress demanded an FIR and an impartial probe. District Congress president Ravi Naik submitted a complaint at Mandleshwar police station, questioning the Election Commission's functioning. India Today reports that thousands of cards were found and that Congress workers staged a protest alleging electoral malpractice. Mathrubhumi reports the cards belong to the Rau assembly constituency in Indore district. Mandleshwar Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Shweta Shukla said the revenue team seized the cards and the police station in-charge has been directed to investigate. Maheshwar SDM Purva Mandloi confirmed the recovery and said a tehsildar has been sent to probe the matter. Action will be taken based on the findings. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources report the same core event but differ on the tally. Mathrubhumi cites an exact figure of 343 cards, while India Today says the exact number is not yet known and refers to thousands. This disparity may stem from the timing of reporting: India Today's later publication may have gathered wider estimates. Both outlets attribute the discovery to a cleanliness drive and quote police officials confirming an investigation. Congress's demand for an FIR and allegations of vote theft are reported identically. The uniform coverage of the official response from SDM Mandloi and police officer Shukla suggests a coordinated administration statement. No source independently verifies the tally, so the investigation outcome will be the decisive fact. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - mathrubhumi.com (neutral report) Leads with exact number 343, no editorialising - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Leads with thousands but flags number unconfirmed This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Election Commission of India, Indian National Congress, Khargone, Mandleshwar, Narmada River, Ravi Naik Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/343-voter-id-cards-found-on-narmada-banks-congress-seeks-fir/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/343-voter-id-cards-found-on-narmada-banks-congress-seeks-fir/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/