# Vote count mismatches found in 51 seats in 2024 polls: report 2026-11-10T13:07:10+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Reporters’ Collective, an investigative journalism group, has found discrepancies between the number of votes recorded as cast and those counted on electronic voting machines (EVMs) in 51 constituencies across Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir during the 2024 elections. The investigation examined internal Election Commission records from 530 constituencies, digitising 4,212 physical documents. In 19 of the 51 seats, election officials entered ‘zero’ or ‘nil’ against voters who entered polling booths. In Haryana's Badkhal assembly seat, the internal record showed 3.32 lakh votes polled, while the declared EVM count was 1.60 lakh. Congress candidate Vijay Pratap Singh, who lost, has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Election Commission has rejected claims of rigging and maintained the electoral process was proper. The Collective said it will release raw data and original records in the concluding part of its investigation. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Deccan Chronicle reported the story as a straight news account, leading with the key figures and including the EC’s denial of rigging, while National Herald framed the report as an allegation that the EC ‘ignored’ mismatches, emphasising the EC’s refusal to share data publicly and the shoddy record-keeping. Both sources agree on the facts of the mismatch and the EC’s response, but National Herald’s framing is more critical of the commission’s transparency. The investigation does not prove rigging, but the discrepancies raise questions about record-keeping and accountability that the EC has not fully addressed. The next step is the release of the raw data by the Reporters’ Collective. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 1 government-critical, 1 neutral - deccanchronicle.com (neutral report) Straight news with EC denial included, no editorial slant. - nationalheraldindia.com (government critical) Leads with EC 'ignored' mismatches, highlights data secrecy. This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: 2024 Indian general election, Election Commission, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, The Reporters' Collective Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/vote-count-mismatches-found-in-51-seats-in-2024-polls-report/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/vote-count-mismatches-found-in-51-seats-in-2024-polls-report/#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/