New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS): Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of not sharing electoral rolls for the Lok Sabha election 2024 and the voter list for Maharashtra Assembly elections last year, raising suspicion of addition of bogus voters to benefit the BJP and its allies.
Raising doubts of alleged bungling in the voter list for the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election which was won by the BJP-led Mahayuti, LoP Gandhi alleged that as many as 39 lakh voters were added to the voters’ list after the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, just six months before the Assembly elections in November 2024.
Addressing the media in Parliament premises, the Congress MP said, “As many as (the number of) eligible voters in Himachal Pradesh were added to Maharashtra's voters’ list in six months after the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2024."
He also indicated that moving court could be a future step if the ECI continues to withhold the crucial information.
The LoP alleged that there was anomaly in figures as there seemed to be more registered voters in Maharashtra than the state government’s own figure for the total adult population.
“The Maharashtra state government data shows that there are 9.54 crore adults in the state and as per ECI there are 9.7 crore registered voters in the state,” LoP Gandhi said, claiming that the adult population data is based on figures of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
He said either the ECI has lost control of the dynamic list of voters or it is manipulating the list. “What is very clear is that the list in Maharashtra has gone wrong,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also alleged that all the voters whose names were added to the electoral list of Maharashtra Assembly election favoured the BJP.
LoP Gandhi admitted that a list was given to all candidates before the Assembly election but it was not a centralised list and each candidate had to go to each polling booth to verify it.
Presenting slides to substantiate his allegations, LoP Gandhi said he deliberately used a picture of DR. B.R. Ambedkar in the slides as the Father of the Indian Constitution had once said, “The electoral roll is the most fundamental thing in a democracy.”
Rahul Gandhi also said that apart from addition of new names in Maharashtra the EC deleted many names and shifted voters from one booth to others and most of these were Dalits, Tribals and the minority community.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who was also present in the media briefing, said the EC should answer the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi if it is impartial and if it wants to keep democracy alive.
“If the EC does not reply to the queries, then it will prove that it is dead,” he said, adding that the EC appears to be subservient to the government.
Calling these 39 lakh new names in Maharashtra rolls “floating voters”, he said these names are added to electoral rolls to every state where elections are due.
Seeking a revival of voting on ballot papers, Supriya Sule, leader of NCP(SP), told media persons that some of her party candidates had raised doubts that they did not get the number of votes that were cast in their favour.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won the Maharashtra Assembly election by bagging 235 seats in a 288-member House. The voting turnout was 66.05, the highest since 1995.