The Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP on Friday trained guns at the Election Commission as it alleged irregularities in the voter lists of Maharashtra, claiming that a total of 39 lakh voters were added between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state.
While addressing a joint press conference here, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that the total number of voters added in Maharashtra was equivalent to the population of a state like Himachal Pradesh.
He also urged the Election Commission to provide them list of voters and come clean on the issue.
Rahul Gandhi said, “We at this table represent the entire opposotion in the last Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
“We are going to bring some information about the election. We studied the details – the voters and the voting list. Our teams have been working, and we have found many irregularities,” he said.
He said, “We have demanded for exact voter list of Vidhan Sabha 2024 and Lok Sabha 2024.”
He said that 32 lakh voters were added between Maharashtra assembly polls in 2019 to Lok Sabha elections 2024.
“However, between Maharashtra Assembly polls 2024 and Lok Sabha elections 2024, 39 lakh voters were added in 5 months,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He said we need the voter list of the Lok Sabha election. “We need the voter list of the Vidhan Sabha election. Because we want to understand exactly who these new additions are,” he said.
He also pointed out that many voters were deleted or transferred to other booths.
He also alleged that many voters, particularly those belonging to Dalit, tribal, and minority communities, had been deleted or relocated to different polling booths. “There are many, many, many voters that have been deleted. Voters who are in one booth have been transferred to another booth.
The Congress Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli claimed the majority of the voters added had gone in the BJP’s favour as the opposition parties had maintained their vote share
He also said that the adult population of Maharashtra is 9.54 crore as per government data while the voter population of the state is 9.7 crore.
There are more voters in Maharashtra than total adult population of the state, Rahul Gandhi alleged flanked by NCP-SP’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut.
He said if the poll panel does not provide the voter lists of the assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, it poses a serious question.
“We are now heading towards complete destruction of the Constitution. But, we are in the business of protecting the Constitution,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He further said that the next step would be to knock at the doors of the judiciary.
“It is surprising to me that the EC is not ready to give us voter lists and the only reason possible is that there is something wrong and they know it,” he claimed.
He also said that we have made repeated requests to the Election Commission.
“They have not answered us. The leader of the opposition has said this in Parliament House. The Election Commission has not responded. Now, the only reason they would not respond is that there is something wrong with what they have done. I am not making any accusations,” he said.
Following the Congress leader’s remarks, the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a post on X said, “ECI considers political parties as priority stakeholders, of course, the voters being the prime and deeply values views, suggestions, questions coming from political parties. Commission would respond in writing with full factual and procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country.”
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising of the Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and the NCP-SP were decimated by the Mahayuti comprising of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the assembly polls held last year.