ADR claims discrepancy in votes cast and votes counted as declared by Election Commission

Daily Sanatan Prabhat had published a similar news a month ago

(ADR is Association for Democratic Reforms which is a non-political organisation)

Mumbai, 2nd August – It was first published by ‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’ in its issue dated 23rd June 2024 that there was discrepancy in the statistics declared by Election Commission on its website since it was observed that at one place, there was one figure under total votes and on adding up the State-wise figures, there was difference in the total. A few famous journalists including Jagdeep Chhokar, the founder of  ADR have also raised the issue now about faults in statistics about votes through EVM machines and actual number of votes counted.

1. ADR is a non-political organisation working on improving the system of democracy and governance for the last 25 years. Jagdeep Chhokar held a press conference and presented this issue.

2. He stated that among 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country, there is a difference in total votes cast in 362 constituencies and the votes counted were less by 5,54,598 whereas in 176 constituencies, 35,093 votes were found in excess, while counting.

3. The reasons for the difference in votes cast and counted should be explained by the Election Commission.

The earlier published data by ‘Daily Sanatan Prabhat’ exposing the discrepancy in votes cast and counted

‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’ published news about the option of NOTA used by voters which indicated the difference of 4,16,000 votes. It was also stated in the news that the election commission’s website showed on its main page that 63,72,220 people voted for NOTA. On adding the numbers under NOTA votes as indicated against individual States, the total was 67,88,492. It means there was a difference of 4,16,272 votes as compared to votes under NOTA published on the website. In 48 constituencies in Maharashtra too, there was a difference of 2,765 votes and ‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’ informed the State Chief Election Officer about the discrepancy.

Link to the published news : https://sanatanprabhat.org/english/105080.html

Election Commission withdraws the statistics from its website

Presently, the Election Commission has kept the statistics of votes related to State Legislative Assemblies as it is and withdrawn the data related to Lok Sabha Election 2024 from its website, without giving any explanation which has created more confusion.

Jagdeep Chhokar’s interview

Courtesy : TV9 Bharatvarsh

Editorial Perspective

It shows there is a possibility of gap in the election statistics. It also means that in constituencies where the candidates have won with very low margins of votes than their opponents, there could be variance in the result declared. This likely mistake is the responsibility of the Election Commission and it should explain its stand on this issue. If necessary, there should be recounting of votes in a few constituencies. The Union Government and Supreme Court should immediately look into this matter.