NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Alleging “numerous irregularities” in the Maharashtra polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed there were more registered voters than the entire state’s adult population, and that more voters were added in five months between the Lok Sabha and state polls than in the five years before that.
He also asserted that if the demand to the Election Commission by the state’s opposition parties — Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP — to be given centralised data of voters’ list for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and the assembly polls 2024, is not met, the next step would be to approach the judiciary.
Addressing a joint press conference with Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule, Gandhi also alleged that names of many voters have been deleted or transferred ahead of the assembly polls and most of these were from Dalit, tribal and minority communities.
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He said the opposition parties in Maharashtra suspect that the number of deletions are much more than the number of additions.
“What we’ve found regarding the Maharashtra elections raises several questions for the Election Commission. Between the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 32 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra’s electoral rolls over five years. However, between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections, 39 lakh new voters were added in just five months,” Gandhi claimed at the press conference at the Constitution Club here.
“Why were more voters added after the Lok Sabha elections? Who are these 39 lakh individuals? Notably, 39 lakh voters are equivalent to the entire voter population of Himachal Pradesh, added in a remarkably short period,” he said.
Why did the EC add more voters in Maharashtra in five months than it did in five years, Gandhi asked.
Pointing out that Maharashtra’s adult population is 9.54 crore while the voter population in the assembly polls was 9.7 crore, Gandhi asked why there were more registered voters in the assembly elections 2024 than the entire adult population of Maharashtra.
“Another concern is that there are more registered voters in Maharashtra than the state’s actual voting population. According to the government, Maharashtra’s adult population is 9.54 crore. Yet, the Election Commission reports more voters in Maharashtra than its adult population. This discrepancy raises questions about how these voters were created,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
He claimed majority of the voters added have gone in the BJP’s favour as the opposition parties have maintained their vote share in the assembly polls.
Gandhi also cited the example of Maharashtra’s Kamthi constituency, saying the BJP’s margin of victory is nearly equal to the number of new voters added.
“The EC must answer these questions and provide us with the electoral rolls of Maharashtra of both Lok Sabha 2024 elections and assembly polls 2024,” he said.
He also pointed out that the number of voters who voted for the three opposition parties has not decreased between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.
“We have been asking the Election Commission for the voters’ list of both the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. Why is the Election Commission not responding to our request,” he asked.
Gandhi said the EC has not answered till now and the only reason they would not respond is if there is something wrong.
“It is EC’s responsibility to establish transparency… Opposition parties that fought the Maharashtra polls together are making the demand of voters’ list and the EC must provide it,” he asserted.
Responding to a question on what is the way forward in case the EC does not respond, he said the “next step of this” would be going to the judiciary.
Talking about the voters’ list, Gandhi said what has happened is that this dynamic list is constantly changing, and anyone can change it.
“The nice way to say it is that the EC has lost control of the list. The bad way to say it is that the EC has manipulated the list….Now, it’s the responsibility of the EC to come clean on what has happened,” he said.
“The answer is not we gave you the list, the answer is we as opposition are asking you for the list now, give us the list now, don’t tell us what happened in the past. If you have no problem giving us the data, give the list with names, photographs and addresses, because if you don’t, there is a serious question now that is being asked about our democracy. And it means we are heading towards complete destruction of the Constitution,” he added.
“We are in the business of protecting the Constitution…and Babasaheb Ambedkar is our inspiration.
Raut said, “If the EC is alive and its conscience is not dead, it should answer questions posed by Rahul Gandhi. Otherwise it will be construed that EC is slave to the government.”
“The EC must remove the shroud that the government has put on it,” he said.
Sule pointed out that even after winning the election from Malshiras, her party’s MLA Uttam Jankar wanted that voting should be done through ballot paper and re-election should be held, but the process was stopped by sending police there.
“In the Maharashtra elections, the opposition was attacked from many sides,” she said.
The Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) have been raising the issues of irregularities over the polls held in November last year in which the BJP-led Mahayuti won a massive mandate. (PTI)
