Srinagar: Nine constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir’s 2024 elections had zero or blank entries in records meant to show the number of voters who entered polling booths, according to an investigation by The Reporters’ Collective (TRC).
The findings are part of TRC’s Election Audit series, based on an analysis of Election Commission of India (ECI) records. The investigation identified 19 constituencies across Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Haryana where walk-in voter counts were recorded as nil or left blank.
Ten of these constituencies were in Maharashtra and Haryana, while nine were in J&K, according to the TRC investigation.
The affected J&K constituencies include Jammu parliamentary seat, Kishtwar, Jammu North, Shopian, DH Pora, Zainapora, Bandipora, Rafiabad and Karnah.
The walk-in count is an important part of the election verification process. Polling officials record each voter’s details in Form 17A before allowing them to cast a vote through an electronic voting machine (EVM). The number of voters recorded should correspond with the votes registered by the machine.
TRC said the missing entries meant this verification could not be established in the nine constituencies. Despite the discrepancies, results were declared and no repolls were ordered.
Three of the affected constituencies had narrow victory margins. Kishtwar was decided by 521 votes, Bandipora by 811 and Shopian by 1,207.
The investigation also found discrepancies between EVM totals and returning officers’ reports in several constituencies. Four of the five largest cases identified by TRC were in J&K.
Srinagar recorded the biggest difference among the four J&K cases, with EVMs showing 6,72,942 votes against 6,66,046 in the returning officer’s report — a gap of 6,896 votes.
However, TRC noted that the excess votes in the four J&K constituencies were below the respective winning margins and did not appear sufficient to change the results.
The investigation further found that the returning officer’s report for Devsar constituency in Kulgam district could not be traced. TRC said it had obtained 530 of the 531 reports it sought.
The National Conference’s Peerzada Feroze Ahmad won Devsar by 840 votes, securing 18,230 votes against PDP candidate Mohammad Sartaj Madni.
TRC said it approached the Election Commission on October 21, 2026, seeking clarification on the discrepancies and asking whether the Commission had investigated them. According to the organisation, its questions remained unanswered. The Commission’s grievance cell subsequently asked it to provide details of the constituencies concerned.
The investigation clarified that the discrepancies do not, by themselves, establish electoral fraud. However, it raised questions about whether prescribed verification procedures had been followed.
The findings come amid political developments in J&K, where the National Conference is facing internal dissent and the resignation announcement of Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.
The NC won four of the nine constituencies with nil walk-in entries and also secured Devsar, where the returning officer’s report was unavailable.
TRC has said it will release the underlying data after completing its Election Audit series.
