Date: July 29, 2024

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) organised a Press Conference today at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, on the topic- "Discrepancies between the votes cast and the votes counted in the 2024 Lok Sabha Election: Multiple perspectives". The live recording can be found here. During the Press Conference, we released ADR's report on the same topic. You can access the report here.

On 4th November, 2019, ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ (ADR) and ‘Common Cause’ had filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India seeking directions from the court to order the Election Commission of India to completely stop the practice of announcing election results based on provisional and estimated data, prior to an actual and accurate reconciliation of data. The petition had relied on the Lok Sabha 2019 Elections where the Election Commission had announced election results in all constituencies on 23rd May 2019, based on estimated data. This was verified by the Election Commission’s Press Note dated 01 June 2019 that stated “…the final data on votes counted has been made available within a few days of declaration of results…..”

On 27th February, 2020 an application was filed in the court against the ‘mysterious rush and urgency’ shown by the Election Commission of India by destroying the VVPAT slips used in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in just four months after the results were declared. This was in contravention of the rules prescribed under Rule 94 (b) Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 which states that, “the used or printed slips in any election shall be retained for one year from the date of declaration of the results of the election and shall thereafter be destroyed.” This was also in contravention of Election Commission’s own directions to all the CEOs of States and Union Territories through its letter dated 23rd September, 2019 (Letter No. 51/8/EVM/2019-EMP) which had clearly instructed that “VVPAT slips pertaining to mock poll and actual poll cannot be disposed of if any election petition or court case is pending in the competent court and the paper slips shall be kept in the custody of District Election Officers till the final disposal of the Election petition or Court case.”

On 4th and 9th May,2024, two separate applications were filed asking the court to direct the ECI to disclose authenticated record of voter turnout by uploading on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)of all polling stations after each phase of polling and to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling during the Lok Sabha, 2024 elections.

Hands off approach of the Supreme Court of India:

On 13th December, 2019, the Supreme Court of India had issued notices to the Election Commission of India and Union of India based on our petition. Since then, the matter has been pending before the court for a full hearing. No action or steps were taken by the highest court against the discrepancies found in the 2019 Lok Sabha election inspite of the various applications filed and repeated requests made for an urgent adjudication of the petition. On 24th May, 2024, taking a hands-off approach in between the elections, the court refused to hear the applications filed against the discrepancies and violations found in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and rather adjourned the matter along with the main petition filed by ADR and Common Cause in 2019. Had the court considered and heard the issues raised through the petition determinedly and in appropriate time, the discrepancies and apprehensions found in the recently concluded Lok Sabha 2024 elections could have been avoided.

Discrepancies found during the Lok Sabha, 2019 elections: During the 17^th General Elections, while for the first 6 phases of the election, the voter turnout app displayed the exact number of voters, however, in the last phase i.e. the 7th phase of voting only percentage figures were given and previous data was removed by the Election Commission. As per the research conducted by a team of experts and ADR, serious discrepancies were found between the number of voters in different constituencies and the number of votes counted in the following way;

The Master summary of 542 constituencies showed discrepancies in 347 seats. 195 seats were without discrepancies whatsoever.
The discrepancies ranged from 1 vote (lowest) to 101323 votes @ 10.49% of the total votes (highest).
There were 6 seats where the discrepancy in votes was higher than the winning margin.
The total volume of discrepancies was in the nature of 739104 votes put together.

Discrepancies found during the Lok Sabha, 2024 elections: Even during the 18^th General Elections, 2024 serious discrepancies have been found in the total number of EVM votes cast and total actual number of EVM votes counted. In addition, the inordinate delay in the release of final voter turnout data, absence of disaggregated constituency and polling station figures in absolute numbers and whether the elections results were declared based on final reconciled data has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the election results. Details of the discrepancies in the votes counted and votes polled in the general elections 2024 are given in the tables in the report.

Role and Conduct of Election Commission of India:

It is not only a legal requirement of the Election Commission of India to declare final election results based on actual genuine data but it is also a constitutional duty as envisaged under Article 324 read with Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution. Election commission of India not only has much wider and greater responsibility for the superintendence, direction and conduct of elections but it is also imperative that such elections are free and fair, rule of law is preserved and that the whole process of conducting elections should be fair, transparent and accountable. Election Commission of India is duty bound to make sure that the elections are driven by fairness, credibility and honesty and not by manipulation, misconduct and illegalities. In order to uphold and preserve the sanctity of elections, it is undeniably imperative that election results are accurate.

The Election Commission has so far failed to give any reasonable explanation in declaring the election results before releasing the final and authentic data on vote count, the mismatch in EVM votes polled EVM votes counted, increase in voter turn-out, non-disclosure of number of votes polled in numbers, unreasonable delay in release of votes polled data and the clean-up of certain data from its website. The ECI failing to address and take appropriate steps against the egregious incidents of violations, illegalities and irregularities seen in the Lok Sabha, 2019 and Lok Sabha Election 2024 elections has led to the trepidations in the mind of the electorate. These apprehensions must be seriously addressed and put to rest.

ADR’s Recommendations:

In order to conduct free and fair elections, ECI should carry actual and accurate reconciliation of data before the declaration of the final result of any election.
In order to uphold the voter’s confidence, it is necessary that the ECI should immediately disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48hours of the close of polling.
In order to maintain the credibility of the conduct of elections devoid of any manipulation or illegality, ECI should also upload scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- II which contains the candidate-wise result of counting after the compilation of results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections;
In order to ensure easy accessibility of the data, a tabulation of the constituency and polling station wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers and in percentage form must also be disclosed.
In order to maintain the purity and legitimacy of elections, ECI should publish the total number of electors in each Parliamentary Constituency, total number of voters as noted in register of voters and number of voters as per EVM for all PCs that have already gone to polls.
In order to remove any/all apprehensions from the minds of the voters, ECI should provide the following information in the public domain for the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and for all future elections i.e Statutory forms 17C, Form 20, Form 21C, Form 21D & Form 21 E.
In order to be more accountable, answerable and transparent to the electorate, ECI should not only investigate the discrepancies which had taken place in the 17th and 18^th Lok Sabha election results but the Commission should also formulate a robust procedure for all future elections for the investigation of any discrepancy found in the election data.

This report is prepared to highlight the discrepancies in the EVM votes polled and EVM votes counted by the ECI while declaring the results of the General elections 2024. Votes polled and counted showed significant discrepancies in 538 PCs, except Amreli, Attingal, Lakshadweep and Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu. Surat PC was uncontested. Hence the total discrepancies in 538 PCs are 5,89,691. The data for all parliamentary constituencies has been compiled from the data available on the website of the ECI as per the links below:

EVM Votes Counted Data- https://results.eci.gov.in/PcResultGenJune2024/index.htm

EVM Votes Polled Data – Phase 1 to 5 https://www.eci.gov.in/eci-backend/public/api/download?url=LMAhAK6sOPBp%2FNFF0iRfXbEB1EVSLT41NNLRjYNJJP1KivrUxbfqkDatmHy12e%2FztfbUTpXSxLP8g7dpVrk7%2FYMdYo4qvd6YLkLk2XBNde3yLdalC2imUPRS60zr1MewdOFtn933icz0MOeiesxvsQ%3D%3D

Phase 6 - https://www.eci.gov.in/eci-backend/public/api/download?url=LMAhAK6sOPBp%2FNFF0iRfXbEB1EVSLT41NNLRjYNJJP1KivrUxbfqkDatmHy12e%2FztfbUTpXSxLP8g7dpVrk7%2FYMdYo4qvd6YLkLk2XBNde03ZpEkiWFydOLAwp4sJFnwdOFtn933icz0MOeiesxvsQ%3D%3D

Phase 7 - https://www.eci.gov.in/eci-backend/public/api/download?url=LMAhAK6sOPBp%2FNFF0iRfXbEB1EVSLT41NNLRjYNJJP1KivrUxbfqkDatmHy12e%2FzIv7%2FZQ09etPKoyJV5h%2FcTj9Lk68T0pyXxxkkbtoGRDUi5PtyDIlU2XhD1Am81x1wsXQUwCbGU493NshNTgs7UQ%3D%3D

Overall difference between EVM votes counted and EVM votes polled: In 362 parliamentary constituencies a total of 5,54,598 votes counted are less than the votes polled. In 176 parliamentary constituencies, a total of 35,093 votes have been counted in excess of the votes polled. The summary of the same is shown below:

Votes counted less than votes polled	5,54,598	Votes counted more than votes polled	35,093	Total discrepancies in votes	5,89,691
No. of Constituencies	362	No. of Constituencies	176	Discrepancies in the total constituencies	538

Summary of state wise difference between EVM votes polled and EVM votes counted

State	Total Constituencies	Votes counted less than votes polled	No. of Constituencies	Votes counted more than votes polled	No. of Constituencies	Discrepancies in the total Constituencies	Total discrepancies in votes
Andhra Pradesh	25	85777	21	3722	4	25	89499
Odisha	21	63123	18	2146	3	21	65269
Uttar Pradesh	80	53960	55	6124	25	80	60084
Tamil Nadu	39	51935	27	2485	12	39	54420
Assam	14	38872	12	3856	2	14	42728
Maharashtra	48	38710	35	1642	13	48	40352
West Bengal	42	34856	31	1037	11	42	35893
Jharkhand	14	26342	12	393	2	14	26735
Kerala	20	19848	14	775	5	19	20623
Chhattisgarh	11	16849	9	44	2	11	16893
Gujarat	26	15141	15	380	9	24	15521
Telangana	17	14969	15	84	2	17	15053
Karnataka	28	14649	15	593	13	28	15242
Madhya Pradesh	29	13529	15	4744	14	29	18273
Bihar	40	9924	19	5015	21	40	14939
Delhi	7	8159	7	0	0	7	8159
Manipur	2	7060	2	0	0	2	7060
Uttarakhand	5	6315	5	0	0	5	6315
Haryana	10	5959	5	93	5	10	6052
Rajasthan	25	3853	6	869	19	25	4722
Himachal Pradesh	4	3770	4	0	0	4	3770
Arunachal Pradesh	2	3617	2	0	0	2	3617
Nagaland	1	3353	1	0	0	1	3353
Jammu and Kashmir	5	3281	4	69	1	5	3350
Puducherry	1	3235	1	0	0	1	3235
Punjab	13	2750	6	740	7	13	3490
Sikkim	1	1896	1	0	0	1	1896
Meghalaya	2	1843	1	200	1	2	2043
Tripura	2	760	1	52	1	2	812
Mizoram	1	124	1	0	0	1	124
Ladakh	1	113	1	0	0	1	113
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1	26	1	0	0	1	26
Goa	2	0	0	20	2	2	20
Chandigarh	1	0	0	1	1	1	1
Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu	2	0	0	9	1	1	9
Lakshadweep	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	543	554598	362	35093	176	538	589691