BJD alleges discrepancies in 2024 General Elections data, moves ECI 

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday raised significant concerns over alleged irregularities in the 2024 general elections. 

The party has pointed out discrepancies between voting statistics released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and those from the State Election authorities.

Pointing out inconsistencies in the data provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State Election Officer, BJD noted a mismatch in the vote counts for both the central and local elections.

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The BJD has urged the Election Commission to direct the Chief Electoral Officer to undertake a comprehensive inquiry. 

While addressing a presser, BJD leader Amar Patnaik said, “There are differences in the total votes polled in a booth and the total number of votes counted from the same EVM. The form 17-C is filled up by the Presiding Officer at the closure of the polls and Form-20 is filled up by the Returning Officer after counting. What we found is in Booth No. 57 of 84-Phulbani (ST) AC under Kandhamal PC, this difference is 682. In Booth No. 165 and Booth No. 219 of 08-Talsara (ST) AC under Sundargarh PC, the differences are 660 and 784 respectively.” 

“For the first time in the history of Odisha elections, and perhaps also in the country, the reported voting percentage at the close of the poll on the polling day and the final voting percentage after the poll reported by the ECI after two days saw a difference ranging from 15 per cent to 30 per cent in 50 Assembly constituencies out of 147,” he added.

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 Responding to the BJD’s claims, BJP MP Balabhadra Majhi suggested that they (BJD) should introspect what caused their defeat. 

“It seems, six months after the elections the BJD leaders realized that they don’t have power. So to be in the public attention, they are saying such things. The thing is that they should introspect why they had such a debacle,” said Majhi.