Now Reading: Vote count mismatches found in 51 seats in 2024 polls: report
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Vote count mismatches found in 51 seats in 2024 polls: report
The Story in Brief
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: 2 sources, 1 government-critical, 1 neutral
Sources (2): deccanchronicle.com (neutral report), nationalheraldindia.com (government critical)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
