EC rejects claim of uncounted votes in 2024 polls, says gap is voters who did not turn up

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected a claim that there is a large gap between the votes cast and the votes actually counted in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections. Some social media posts and media reports had alleged that lakhs of votes were not counted in the 2024 elections.

The Commission clarified that the gap between the total number of registered voters and the votes counted is made up of voters who did not come to vote. It said this is not a gap of uncounted votes. It gave the figures for the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat and the Dahanu and Beed Assembly seats.

In Mumbai North, 7.75 lakh voters did not vote. According to the Commission's official figures, the seat had 18,12,115 registered voters. Of these, 10,36,496 voted, including 10,33,268 EVM votes and 3,228 postal ballots. Turnout on the seat was 57.20 per cent.

The actual count recorded 10,35,731 votes. On the remaining 765 votes, the Commission said they were votes used for testing and such votes from the control unit, which were not included in the count as per its guidelines.

The Dahanu Assembly seat had 3,01,257 registered voters, and 2,21,818 voted, including 2,20,919 EVM votes and 899 postal ballots. Turnout there was 73.63 per cent.

The Beed Assembly seat had 3,84,885 registered voters. Of these, 2,42,983 voted, including 2,38,845 EVM votes and 4,138 postal ballots. Beed recorded 63.13 per cent turnout.

According to the Commission, 7,75,619 voters in Mumbai North, 79,439 in Dahanu and 1,41,902 in Beed did not vote. The Commission made clear that it is wrong to describe the gap between registered voters and those who voted as uncounted votes.

On the counting process, the Commission said the official record of polling at a booth is kept in Form 17C, which is a legal document. After voting ends, the booth's presiding officer prepares Part I of the form. A copy is given to the polling agents of candidates present at the booth.

On counting day, the candidates' counting agents match the figures in Part I of Form 17C against the entries in Part II. Part II records the votes actually counted.

The Commission also said the full figures for total voters, EVM votes and postal ballots are available in the statistical reports and index cards on its official website.

The Commission said the claims of large-scale uncounted votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections arose from a misreading of election data.