2024 Vote Count Mismatch Claim: What Is Known and What Is Not

The Reporters’ Collective said on 10 November 2026 that Election Commission records show votes cast and votes counted do not match in 51 seats of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir in the 2024 elections, and the claim has spread widely on social media since. The short answer: the gaps appear in the Commission’s own constituency records, but Commission sources say the large figures are electorate numbers entered in the wrong column, and the report itself says it does not prove rigging.

What the Records Show

The Collective reviewed constituency-level reports filed by returning officers for 530 of 531 seats: 467 assembly seats and 63 Lok Sabha seats. It found 19 seats where the count of voters who walked in was recorded as “0” or “nil”, and 32 contests where votes polled did not match votes counted. Its biggest example is Mumbai North, where records list 18.11 lakh votes polled against 10.33 lakh counted. In Badkhal, Haryana, the records list 3.32 lakh polled against 1.60 lakh counted.

The Collective says in Mumbai North, Badkhal and four other seats, officials entered the total number of registered voters as votes polled, which would imply 100 per cent turnout. It also reports that in Kaithal, Haryana, the record shows 215 votes polled against 1,67,285 counted, and that in Srinagar 6,896 more votes were counted than cast.

Also read Uttarakhand Voter List: Draft Roll on 12 Nov, Claims Till 11 Dec

The Election Commission’s Reply

Commission sources, quoted by IANS on 10 and 11 November, said the claims confuse electors with votes cast. They said Badkhal has 3,32,253 electors, of whom 1,60,553 voted (48.32 per cent), and Mumbai North has about 18.12 lakh electors, of whom 10,33,267 voted. These were not on-the-record statements by the Commission, and the Commission has not published a point-by-point reply to the 51 seats.

The two accounts overlap more than the headlines suggest. Both agree the 18.11 lakh figure is the electorate. What is disputed is why a constituency record carried that number as votes polled, and why 19 seats show “nil” walk-in voters. The Collective says the Commission treated its questions as a grievance and asked it to hand over the data in confidence.

What Stays Unverified

The booth-level Form 17C, which would settle the question, is no longer open to the public after a December 2024 rule change, and the Collective’s data is constituency-level. No repoll was held in any of the 51 seats. No court has ruled on these findings. Reports also differ on the count: the Collective says 51 seats, while some outlets say 52.

Earlier on this subject, IPB reported the INDIA bloc’s mock Parliament charges against the Chief Election Commissioner. More reports are under the Election Commission tag.

Source: The Reporters’ Collective report. Also based on reporting by National Herald and IANS via Madhyamam.

Image: PTI / File photo.