After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his allies from the Maharashtra raised concerns that the electoral roll of the state has some anomalies, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday assured a written response on the issue.
During a joint press conference that was also attended by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut and Supriya Sule, Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar faction, Rahul Gandhi claimed that in only five months, there had been an unprecedented increase in the voter registrations in Maharashtra (that were) way more than the registrations that took place in the last five years.
Rahul Gandhi Alleges Manipulation in Voter Registrations
Gandhi also said that since the 2019 assembly elections, 3.2 million voters were added to the electoral roll and left out of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. But considering the number of new voters in just five months between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the forthcoming assembly polls, there are 3.9 million new voters—as many as the electorate of Himachal Pradesh.
He grilled this spike and accused these new voters of being strategically deployed in seats won by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in constituencies. He also charged the authorities with deleting in large numbers voters from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and minority communities and accused them of taking that as an opportunity to rig votes for opposition.
Voter Count Crosses Population in Maharashtra
Gandhi cited health ministry data to point out a discrepancy between Maharashtra’s total population and the number of registered voters. Although 95 million people in Maharashtra were eligible to vote, only 97 million names were registered in the electoral roll, he added.
Where did these extra two million voters appear from?” According to him, the constituencies where the BJP won also added these new voters.
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