Poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has claimed discrepancy in number of votes polled and number of votes counted in 538 parliamentary constituencies of country in the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In a letter written to Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking reasons behind occurrence of the discrepancy, in the number of votes polled and the number of votes counted in the latest Lok Sabha polls, it has appealed for immediate action by ECI to address these discrepancies and ensure public trust in the electoral process.
As per the analysis done by the poll rights body, in the recent Lok Sabha polls a total of 5,54,598 votes counted are less than the votes polled in 362 parliamentary constituencies while a total of 35,093 votes have been counted in excess of the votes polled in 176 parliamentary constituencies.
ADR has written to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, and raised serious concerns over the alleged discrepancies in the electronic voting machine (EVM) votes during the 2024 general elections.
The letter traces the issue back to 2019, when ADR and Common Cause filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India.
They sought a directive for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop announcing the results based on provisional data before a thorough reconciliation. The petition cited the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the results were announced based on estimated data.
Despite the Supreme Court issuing notices to the ECI and the Union of India in December 2019, no substantial action was taken, it alleged.
“Each and every vote is important and must be accounted for,” the letter said, urging the ECI to explain the reasons behind these inconsistencies.
ADR has requested the ECI to inform of steps taken in light of their findings. They emphasized the necessity for the ECI, as a constitutional body, to uphold the integrity of free and fair elections in India.
