New Delhi: Maharashtra opposition parties on Friday (February 7) alleged irregularities in the voter lists in the state and questioned how there were more voters in Maharashtra than its adult population. Lok Sabha leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “manipulating” the voter list.
The Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) held a joint press conference in New Delhi to address the matter. The allegations come just ahead of the Delhi election results, which are set to be announced on Saturday.
Gandhi, along with Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut and NCP (SCP) MP Supriya Sule, said that in Maharashtra, 32 lakh voters were added between the state assembly elections in 2019 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, while 39 lakh voters were added in five months between the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and Maharashtra assembly elections 2024.
‘9.5 crore adults in Maharashtra but 9.7 crore voters?’
“Some questions have arisen on the voter lists in Maharashtra. The number of voters added in five months is more than the number of voters in five years,” said Gandhi.
“About 32 lakh voters were added between Vidhan Sabha 2019 and 2024. About 39 lakh voters – which is the population of Himachal Pradesh – were added between 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Vidhan Sabha elections 2024. Who are these additional voters? Where were they and where have they come from? According to government data, Maharashtra’s adult population is 9.54 crores. According to the ECI, there are 9.7 crores voters in Maharashtra. This means the EC is saying that there are more voters than the adult population in Maharashtra. How can this happen?” Gandhi asked
Referring to the Kamthi constituency in Maharashtra, Gandhi said that while the Congress got approximately the same number of votes in the Lok Sabha elections and the assembly elections, 35,000 new voters were added, all of whom voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Congress got 1.36 lakh votes in Kamthi in the Lok Sabha elections. In Vidhan Sabha, we got about the same number of votes –1.34 lakhs. The Lok Sabha election we won. In the Lok Sabha election, the BJP got 1.19 lakh votes. About 35,000 new voters were added in this constituency and all 35,000 voted for the BJP and the BJP won it in the Vidhan Sabha. There are many such examples in Maharashtra. Our votes have not decreased in Maharashtra, BJP’s votes have increased. This has happened where BJP’s strike rate has been 90%. This has never happened in history,” he said.
’39 lakh floating voters’
Gandhi said that while all three parties have demanded that the ECI provide the complete voter lists for the state, the poll body has not complied.
“We have said to the EC that we are not levelling allegations, we want the final voter list from the EC for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. But the Election Commission is not giving us this list. All three parties in Maharashtra are asking this question. But they are not giving us the list. It is the commission’s job to bring transparency in elections,” he said.
Raut said that the 39 lakh new voters are “floating voters” which will now move from state to state, alleging that it has become the BJP’s “new pattern”.
“If the EC is alive and their conscience is not dead, it must answer these questions raised by Gandhi. But the EC will not answer it because it is acting as a slave to the government,” said Raut.
“These 39 lakh fake votes cast in Maharashtra, will now go to Bihar. These are floating votes, the names and Aadhaar cards will remain the same, they have come to Delhi in the Maharashtra pattern and now they will go to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This is BJP’s new pattern, they win elections like this.”
Markadwadi mock polls
Sule referred to Markadwadi in Maharashtra’s Solapur district, where Uttamrao Shivdas Jankar of the NCP (SP) won the assembly election last year and demanded a re-election on ballot paper despite winning because he had not got the votes that he should have.
The Wire had reported that of the total votes cast in the village, 843 went to Jankar while Ram Satpute, the BJP candidate from the constituency, received 1,003 votes from this village. Although Jankar won with a comfortable margin of over 13,000 votes, the villagers demanded a mock poll saying that the votes were not accurate. However, this exercise was stopped.
“In his village everyone agreed to this exercise but the police were sent there and it was stopped. We want elections on ballot and machines stopped. Our-Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP(SP)-parties were broken and our case is in the Supreme Court. The symbols that were given to us created confusion. There is the symbol issue, breaking our parties, voter list issues. It is a multi-pronged attack. It is not about losing elections but it is about fair elections. The EC’s role is very important,” said Sule.
Gandhi said that the voter list is “dynamic” and is being constantly changed, accusing the Election Commission of manipulating the list. “What has happened is that this list is a dynamic list and is constantly changing, and anyone can change it,” said Gandhi.
“The nice way to say it is that the EC has lost control of the list. The bad way to say it is that the EC has manipulated the list. What is very clear is that the list in Maharashtra has gone wrong. A list which is bigger than the population, where the population of Himachal Pradesh is entering Maharashtra and all additional voters have gone to the BJP – something is wrong. Now, it’s the responsibility of the EC to come clean on what has happened,” he said.
Following the press conference, the EC said that it will give a written response.
“ECI considers political parties, as priority stakeholders, of course the voters being the prime [and] deeply values views, suggestions, questions coming from political parties. Commission would respond in writing with full factual [and] procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country,” it said in a post on X.
