Maharashtra elections: Congress delegation flags concerns over poll process, seeks raw data from EC

Congress delegation met EC officials in New Delhi on Tuesday. Pic/X

A Congress delegation met Election Commission officials in New Delhi on Tuesday and raised concerns over alleged inconsistencies in the electoral process for the Maharashtra Assembly election 2024, including the issue of large numbers of deletions and additions in the voters' list, reported the PTI.

The opposition party sought raw data from the poll panel to ascertain facts.

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According to the PTI, the Congress delegation, including Rajya Sabha MPs Abhishek Singhvi, Mukul Wasnik, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, Gurdeep Singh Sappal and Praveen Chakravarty, met Election Commission (EC) officials and explained the party's concerns over the polls.

"We had a discussion in a constructive, cordial and positive atmosphere. I started by telling the Commission that we are furthering the cause of democracy because an uneven, non-level field for elections directly affects the basic structure of the Indian Constitution," Abhishek Singhvi told reporters after the meeting, as per the PTI.

He said the delegation raised three-four main issues, including the large number of deletions from voters' lists during the five-month period between the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

"We questioned the door-to-door surveys, which are mandatorily required before deletions. We have asked for the raw data for the form involved. For deletions, it is Form 7 and for additions it is Form 6," he said, adding that the Congress sought booth- and constituency-wise data for Maharashtra, the news agency reported.

"This raw data will tell us how there was such a large number and, if actually it was preceded by a door-to-door check. We expressed concern over the deletions as ground workers pointed to instances of one individual having 250 forms. Such en-masse, collective deletion smacks of great suspicion and distrust," Abhishek Singhvi said, reported the PTI.

He added the delegation also raised with the EC how, in a short time, 47 lakh additions were made between the Lok Sabha and the assembly polls.

"The Election Commission states it is 39 lakh. That is not a small number. You have to establish transparency by showing door-to-door surveys. We have asked for the raw data," he said.

Singhvi said they also flagged how EC data showed the voter turnout at 58 per cent at 5 pm on November 20 and 65.02 per cent at 11:30 pm.

"Two days later, it was 66.05 per cent, which is a difference of 7 per cent. We have worked it out, it is about 76 lakh voters. The EC told us that voter turnout is not in real time and Form 17 C will give a matching figure. However, we want raw data and it begs an explanation how there can be that vast a difference," Singhvi said.

He said 118 constituencies, of which the BJP won 102, had an additional voter turnout of 25,000 compared to the Lok Sabha polls five months ago.

"This is unnatural. We need raw data for it," he said.

The EC has promised a point-by-point explanation and rebuttal in future, Singhvi said.

The Congress on November 29 raised with the EC "serious and grave inconsistencies" that it said were being revealed in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls and sought an in-person hearing to present relevant evidence.

In a memorandum to the poll panel, AICC Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, Nana Patole and AICC general secretary Wasnik had said "these glaring inconsistencies", which struck at the very root of a transparent, free and fair electoral system, were not based on any biased motive or farfetched presumptions but had been extracted from the information made publicly available by the Commission.

In their memorandum, the Congress leaders had said, "In fact, questions relating to Maharashtra's voter data have also been raised by a former Chief Election Commissioner, hence we are bringing the same to the attention of this Commission."

"In the days leading up to the polling day, the Indian National Congress and its allies received several ground-level reports about different means being adopted by the ruling regime to commit large-scale electoral fraud across the assembly constituencies in Maharashtra," the memorandum said.

The Congress leaders said these included instances of arbitrary deletion of names from the voters' list and consequent insertion of roughly 10,000 voters per constituency across Maharashtra.

"With this exercise of unchecked and arbitrary deletion and consequent insertion of voters, the state of Maharashtra witnessed an unprecedented increase of an estimated 47 lakh voters being added to the electoral roll from between July-November 2024," the memorandum said.

(with PTI inputs)