A recent report by The Wire found major discrepancies between the EVM votes polled and the EVM votes counted in over 140 Lok Sabha constituencies, with the difference ranging from two votes to over 3,811 votes.
The difference is prevalent in almost all Lok Sabha constituencies, with about 543 showing the number of EVM votes counted vastly differing from the EVM votes polled.
Overall, a surplus of 35,093 EVM votes has been recorded in 176 constituencies excluding postal ballots. These numbers do not include postal ballots since the voter turnout data only includes votes polled in the EVMs.
In Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur constituency, a deficit of 16,791 votes was found with the number of EVM votes polled being way more than the number of EVM votes counted.
Assam’s Kokrajhar and Odisha’s Dhenkanal recorded a deficit of 10,760 votes and 9,427 votes, respectively. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh’s Ongole, Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla recorded a surplus of 1,467 and 1,089 EVM votes, respectively.
Responding to the questions raised by social media users, the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh stated two instances when votes are not counted in certain polling stations. First, when the polling officer fails to clear the Mock Poll data from the Control Unit and the VVPAT before voting begins. Second, when the total votes polled in the Control Unit fail to match the record of votes in Form 17C prepared by the Presiding Officer by mistake.
However, no explanation or clarification has been given by the Election Commission on how a surplus of votes is generated when the EVM votes counted is greater than the EVM votes cast in over 150 Lok Sabha constituencies.
There has been no clarification on why the deficit or surplus in EVM votes counted have not been provided based on each Lok Sabha constituency, and acknowledging that there is a data mismatch in the number of votes polled as mentioned in Form 17C and the number of votes recorded in control units in certain constituencies.
The data mismatch, along with the delay in releasing the absolute number of EVM votes polled and the data for the first five phases of the election, have raised doubts in the integrity of India’s electoral process.
