New Felhi (TIP)- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday, February 7, promised to respond in writing minutes after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his Maharashtra allies questioned the anomalies in the electoral roll ahead of the assembly polls in the western Indian state in November. Gandhi claimed more voters were added in the state in five months than in five years. He said overall the number of voters in Maharashtra surpassed the state’s adult population.
Gandhi said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept back to power as part of a coalition, won the constituencies where voters were added. He alleged a large number of voters from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and minority communities were deleted from the voter list.
“In five years between the assembly elections in 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 3.2 million voters were added. In five months between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls, 3.9 million voters were added. Who are these 3.9 million voters? That is equivalent to the total number of voters of Himachal Pradesh. Why are there more voters in Maharashtra than the entire adult population?… the voters were suddenly created in Maharashtra,” said Gandhi at a joint press conference with Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s Sanjay Raut and the Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar’s Supriya Sule.
The Congress and its allies bagged 30 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats before they were reduced to 50 seats in the assembly in November. The BJP-led alliance won 235 of 288 assembly seats.
Gandhi cited the health ministry data and said Maharashtra’s population was 95 million. He added the electoral roll had 97 million voters. “…The constituencies where they added [voters] are BJP’s…they were added wherever the BJP won.”
Gandhi said more voters than the adult population of Maharashtra was not a speculation. “These are facts. This is not our data. This is the ECI’s data. ….there are factual anomalies…90% strike rate [for the BJP]…The ECI is the final authority. We are asking them. You would not be able to explain how there are more voters in Maharashtra than the adult population of the state,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi asked for the electoral roll with complete addresses to explain it. “If they give us that, we will have another press conference where the answers to the questions [they raised] will be given…My concern is that the strategy is to delay and destroy. The ECI needs to give data…The next step is that we go to the judicial system…This is a small piece of the puzzle. The big piece of the puzzle is voter deletion.”
Gandhi said they do not know how many voters were deleted and where. “We know how many have been added. We do not know how many have been deleted. We suspect the number of deleted is more than the number added.”
The ECI responded to Gandhi’s comments saying it values views, suggestions, and questions. “ECI considers political parties, as priority stakeholders, of course the voters being the prime & deeply values views, suggestions, and questions coming from political parties. Commission would respond in writing with full factual & procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country,” said the ECI.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected Gandhi’s charges saying the ECI has categorically replied to all the questions. “Gandhi is doing a cover fire as he knows that after the February 8 election results, his party will be nowhere in Delhi.” He accused Gandhi of creating a new narrative. “If he does not introspect and continue to console himself with lies, his party’s revival is impossible. Rahul Gandhi should introspect his defeat.”
Gandhi this week also raised the issue in Lok Sabha during the debate on the President’s speech. He flagged anomalies and sought data from the ECI.