Maharashtra CEO Dismisses Claims of Voting Irregularities in 2024 Elections

Mumbai, November 11 (Daily Kiran) : Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has firmly rejected allegations of discrepancies in the voting process for the upcoming 2024 elections. The claims, made by the Reporters Collective, suggested that the number of votes cast and counted for 51 assembly seats in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir did not match. The CEO labeled these allegations as “misleading.”

In a post on social media platform X, the CEO clarified that the actual voting figures from election day are shared with candidates’ polling agents through “Form 17.” During the counting process, these figures are cross-verified with the data recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The CEO emphasized that no complaints regarding data discrepancies had been received. The Reporters Collective could have sought clarification from the Election Commission regarding their claims.

The issue arose after the Reporters Collective alleged that internal records from the Election Commission of India (ECI) indicated mismatches between the votes cast and counted in the specified regions. Citing records, the Maharashtra CEO pointed out that according to the index card for the Beed assembly constituency, there were 384,885 registered voters. Of these, 238,845 votes were cast via EVMs, while the total number of votes, including postal ballots, reached 242,084.

The post on X stated, “The report claims that 145,256 votes were not counted, which is completely incorrect, misleading, and contrary to the facts. In reality, this is the difference between total voters and the votes cast. The Election Commission has provided accurate figures in its index card.”

Similarly, in the Dahanu assembly constituency, there were 301,257 registered voters. Of these, 220,919 votes were cast through EVMs, while the total, including postal votes, amounted to 221,818.

The CEO reiterated that the report attempted to mislead, stating that the ECI counted 80,320 votes less than the votes cast, when in fact, the figures reflected the difference between total voters and counted votes.

Additionally, according to the index card for the Mumbai North parliamentary constituency available on the Election Commission’s website, out of 1,812,115 registered voters, 1,033,267 votes were cast via EVMs, with the total including postal ballots reaching 1,036,496.

The Election Commission reiterated that the Reporters Collective’s reports were an attempt to mislead. They stated that the total votes cast were reported as 1.81 million, while this figure actually represented the total number of registered voters.

Meanwhile, in a significant move under the Special Intensive Review (SIR), the Election Commission has given another opportunity to voters in Maharashtra whose names were not included in the draft voter list. This situation arose as they were categorized as absent, transferred, deceased, or duplicates, despite having filled out forms during house-to-house surveys.