Returning officer rejects allegation of vote count discrepancy in Bhosari

PUNE The returning officer of Bhosari constituency has rejected allegations of inconsistency in vote counting during the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections, the results of which were declared on November 23.

Responding to Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad’s allegation of a discrepancy of over 9,000 votes, the official clarified that the total votes recorded during the voting matched those counted during the counting.

The defeated Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates announced their plans to seek verification of EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) records in their constituencies following the debate.

Awhad had specifically flagged Bhosari as a contentious case and claimed that while 3,65,055 votes were reported during polling, the tally increased to 3,74,547 during counting, a difference of 9,492 votes. This alleged anomaly led the NCP to demand an urgent investigation.

However, Bhosari’s returning officer Revannath Labade denied these allegations. He stated that 3 million 74 thousand 424 voters cast their votes in the voting, and 3 million 74 thousand 425 votes were counted with a single vote difference due to the Electoral Duty Document (EDC) votes not being reported.

“There were also 979 postal votes received in the constituency,” he explained.

Labade also explained that party workers and candidate representatives were present in large numbers during the counting process.

“I’m not sure where these discrepancy figures come from. Section II of Form 17C, where the polled votes are recorded. The section was presented to the candidates and their supporters. No candidate objected. “The details were also shared with the district collector and made public,” he said.

Labade’s statement is aimed at allaying concerns as NCP and other MVA leaders continue to press for greater scrutiny of the electoral process.