he Election Commission on Thursday addressed concerns about discrepancies between the votes polled and the votes counted in the recent Lok Sabha elections, attributing the differences to specific procedural lapses.
A social media user on platform X had alleged discrepancies sometimes amounting to thousands between the total votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the votes counted. Uttar Pradesh's chief electoral officer responded to these allegations, explaining that such differences can occur due to established protocols.
Key reasons for these discrepancies include:
- Presiding Officer Errors: If the Presiding Officer fails to clear mock poll data from the Control Unit before starting the actual poll or does not remove mock poll slips from the VVPAT, the initial votes recorded can skew the final tally.
- Form 17-C Mismatch: Discrepancies can also arise if there is a mismatch between the total votes polled in the Control Unit and the record in Form 17-C prepared by the Presiding Officer due to an error.
According to the Election Commission, votes from these polling stations are only counted at the end if their total is equal to or greater than the margin between the first and second candidates. If the total is lower than the margin, these votes are not counted, leading to the observed differences between votes polled by EVMs and votes counted.
The clarification comes after the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was completed on Tuesday. The Election Commission of India reported that the BJP won 240 seats and, with its allies, secured a total of 293 seats. The INDIA bloc, comprising multiple opposition parties, has over 230 MPs in the new parliament, with the Congress strength reaching 100 after independent MP Vishal Patil extended support to the party.
In several constituencies, the results were decided by narrow margins. One of the closest contests was in the Mumbai North West constituency in Maharashtra, where Ravindra Dattaram Waikar of Shiv Sena narrowly defeated Amol Gajanan Kirtikar of Shiv Sena (UBT) by only 48 votes. Another tight race was in Kerala's Attingal constituency, where Adoor Prakash of INC narrowly defeated V Joy of CPI (M) by 684 votes.
