DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A video is being shared on social media with a claim that EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) in Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested for the Lok Sabha seat, showed more votes for him than the polled votes.
वाराणसी में नरेन्द्र मोदी चुनाव लड़ रहे थे 11 लाख लोगों ने वोट डाले और EVM मसीन से निकले 13 लाख 87 हजार वोट…😎🎅😎#EVM_हटाओ_पाखंडी_भगाओ pic.twitter.com/QJZ8FGGVgt
— PRBAZUKA (@prbazuka_21546) April 12, 2024
The claim reads in Hindi: “वाराणसी में नरेंद्र मोदी चुनाव लड़ रहे थे। 11 लाख लोगों ने वोट डाले। ईवीएम मशीन में निकले 12 लाख 87 हज़ार। ईवीएम मशीन चोर है, चुनाव आयोग चोरों का सरदार” (translated into English, it reads:”In Varanasi, Narendra Modi was contesting the election. 11 lakh people voted, but 12 lakh 87 thousand votes came out from the EVM machine. The EVM machine is a thief, and the Election Commission is the leader of the thieves.”
We found a similar claim made recently about the 2019 elections involving the EVMs in Varanasi here:
2019 में वाराणसी चुनाव में 11 लाख वोट डाले गए,
लेकिन EVM में 12 लाख 87000 वोट गिने गए।मुर्गी जीतने जल्दीअंडा नही देती, उतने तेजी से EVM वोट दे रही थी-वामन मेश्राम #LokSabhaElections2024 #WamanCMeshram #EVM_हटाओ_लोकतंत्र_बचाओ pic.twitter.com/vw9fHMdDod
— Shubham Dharne (@dharne_shubham) April 7, 2024
The claim was made in the video by Waman Meshram, President of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF), who is known to be critical about the use of EVMs in elections and also led a protest on January 31, 2024 against the EVMs before Central Election Commission office.
FACT-CHECK
To begin with, the post was shared on April 12, 2024, far ahead of the voting that took on June 1, 2024. So, it cannot be applicable to 2024 elections. Since PM Modi contested from Varanasi earlier in 2019 successfully, we checked the figures of total votes polled in 2019 elections.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there were 18,56,791 voters and the total votes polled and counted in EVMs were 10,58,744, besides an additional 2,085 postal votes, as per the ECI figures. These figures are available on Election Commission of India’s website.
Even the recent 2024 Lok Sabha election figures show that there are 19,97,578 voters in Varanasi constituency and the total votes polled were 11,27,081 and postal votes were 3,062, amounting to 11,30,143 total votes. PM Modi won by a margin of 1,52,513 votes or a vote share of 52.24%, as per the data available from the ECI’s website. Hence, the claim is false.
Claim: A video on social media alleges that the total votes counted by EVMs in Varanasi Lok Sabha elections exceeded the total votes polled.
Conclusion: The claim is false. Neither in 2019 nor in 2024, the votes polled for Modi in Varanasi did not exceed the total number of voters.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
