Rahul Gandhi seeks discussion on electoral roll discrepancies in Parliament

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday demanded a detailed discussion on the electoral roll in Parliament, citing the alleged discrepancies in the Maharashtra voter list for the 2024 assembly election and duplication of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) numbers.

“The entire opposition is demanding a detailed discussion on the voter list in the Parliament. It has been more than a month since my press conference on the irregularities in the voter list of Maharashtra,” he said in the Lok Sabha.

Gandhi and Congress’s allies last month questioned the anomalies in the electoral roll for the Maharashtra assembly polls in November, claiming more voters were added in five months than in five years and that overall they surpassed Maharashtra’s adult population.

West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) this week accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “planting fake voters” for the BJP. It said it gave the poll body 24 hours to come clean about the fake voters but the ECI stayed silent. The TMC said it was exposing ECI using the rulebook as it referred to duplicated EPIC numbers and said they have to be unique while vowing to fight electoral malpractices.

The ECI has maintained duplication of EPIC numbers does not “imply duplicate/fake voters”.

In Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the demands made to the ECI regarding transparency have not been fulfilled. “The questions remain the same even today. Now, new evidence of duplicate names in the voter list has emerged, raising even more new and serious questions. This discussion is very important to protect the values ​​of democracy and the Constitution.”

As Gandhi was making his point, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked if the government makes the voter list. Gandhi told him that the Speaker was correct but added that questions were being raised in the entire country over the voter list. “I accept that you [government] do not make the voter list but at least accept a discussion.”

TMC’s Kalyana Banerjee sought a debate on a faulty voter list. Ten TMC members were due to meet the chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday over the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers, taking the issue forward and trying to position the party as a main voice on this issue.

In February, Gandhi said 3.2 million voters were added in Maharashtra in five years between the assembly elections in 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “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.

He added the BJP, which swept back to power as part of a coalition, won the constituencies where voters were added. Gandhi alleged voters from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and minority communities were deleted from the voter list.

The ECI responded to Gandhi’s comments in February, 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 ECI on X.