Congress writes to EC, flags ‘grave inconsistencies’ in Maharashtra assembly elections
Noting its complaints, the Congress said that the exisiting safeguards of the EC have not been able to “curb such an electoral fraud from being committed”.
Disappointed with its defeat in the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections, the Congress on Friday submitted an "urgent memorandum" to the Election Commission of India, raising "grave inconsistencies" in the polls.
The grand old party also urged the poll-governing body to grant an "urgent in-person hearing" to raise all its issues in detail.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared the 12-page document on the microblogging site X, informing that the party's Maharashtra chief Nana Patole, along with Mukul Wasnik and Ramesh Chennithala submitted the memorandum to the EC.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (Sharad Pawar), lost the Maharashtra elections to the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. Congress managed to win 16 seats, while Sena (UBT) bagged 20 seats and NCP(SP) won 10.
Cong's allegations:-
- “Arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent addition of over 10,000 voters in each constituency from the final voter lists.”
- “Inexplicable increase in voting percentages from 5 pm to the final voter percentage declared by the EC at 11:30 pm on the day of polling."
Referring to the first issue it mentioned, the Congress claimed that owing to the arbitrary deletion and addition of voters, Maharashtra saw an "unprecedented increase of an estimated 47 lakh voters being added to the electoral roll from between July 2024 - November 2024".
"It is significant to note that out of the 50 Assembly Constituencies where there was an average increase of 50,000 voters, the ruling regime and its allies secured victory from 47 of these Constituencies," the document read.
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Further, the party said that this issue though was raised by the MVA on October 19 before the EC, no action was taken by the poll body in this regard.
It corroborated the voter lists manipulation claim by citing an FIR registered by a Tujlapur Voter Registration Officer before the Dharashiv Cyber Police Station, wherein a large number of fake voter registrations between October 2 and 16 were reported.
The complaint claimedthat individuals created "fake Aadhar cards" with different names, photos, and addresses.
The Tujlapur constituency was won by BJP candidate Ranajagjitsinha Padmasinha Patil with 1,31,863 votes.
Citing this instance and the "unprecedented increase" in the number of registered voters between the Lok Sabha elections in May and the assembly elections in November, the Congress said that "there can be no doubt that existing safeguards of this Commission have not been able to curb such an electoral fraud from being committed".
In the second issue, the grand old party flagged the alleged surge in the voter turnout percentage between the 5 pm number and that of 11:30 pm.
The party said that the turnout at 5 pm, as per the EC, was reported to be 58.22 per cent, which later at 11:30 pm was said to be 65.02 per cent. And "several hours prior to counting", another increase in the voter turnout was reported, which stood at 66.05 per cent.
Between the polling hours on November 20, the Congress cited EC data and claimed that around 76 lakh votes were cast. On top of which, another hike of approximately 10 lakh voters was made before the counting of votes on November 23.
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"From a common sense viewpoint, over 70 lakh votes being case in the closing hour of polling is implausible and unheard of in electoral history," it said.
The memorandum further read, "Even assuming the time taken by one individual to case their vote is two minutes, it is impossible for this Hon'ble Commission to have even come out with the final data by 11:30 considering that 76 lakh voters have exercised their franchise within the last hour of polling."
The Congress urged the Election Commission to hold "itself accountable" and provide a clear response justifying the said inconsistencies and discrepancies in the polls.
"We would also request that this Hon'ble Commission grant us an urgent in-person hearing to raise all our issues in detail. In fact, apart from the two issues mentioned herein, there are several other constituency specific issues which we would like to raise before this Commission," the grand old party said in its memorandum.
