Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: State Congress chief writes to ECI, alleges 'huge scam in voting percentage'

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Accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of tampering with the voter data in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024, state Congress chief Nana Patole on Friday wrote to the poll body seeking to know how the turnout increased by 7.83 percentage points after the official polling time had ended.

According to news agency ANI, Patole, in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, has raised questions over electronic voting machines (EVMs) and said that public "sentiment" has become "extremely intense" as there is a huge "scam" in the percentage of votes polled in the assembly elections.

"Doubts are being raised from many levels on the 7.83 per cent increase in votes. Looking at the vote figures announced by ECI, there must have been long queues at the polling stations after 5 pm on the day of voting. In how many constituencies in the state were there long queues of voters after 5 pm?" Patole questioned in his letter to the apex poll body, demanding the ECI to announce "evidence," including video footage, suggesting the surge.

"According to the official figures released by the Election Commission, 65.2 per cent voting was done till 11.30 pm on November 20. The official figures released on the next day, i.e. on November 21 at 3 pm, were 66.05 per cent. Where did the 1.03 per cent discrepancy in the figures officially released by the Election Commission itself come from? How did a whopping nine lakh ninetynine thousand and three hundred and fifty nine votes increase in a single day? Considering the discrepancy in the percentage of votes, this seems serious and worrying. If there are doubts in the minds of the public about this increase in votes, it is the duty of the Election Commission to dispel them. The Election Commission itself should come forward and clarify its position with evidence and give a satisfactory answer to the doubts in the minds of the public," Patole added in the letter.

Speaking to ANI, he said that ECI must explain how such a surge was possible.

"The Election Commission, at 5 pm (20th November) when they showed the voting percentage, it was 58 per cent, at 11:59 pm, the number was 65.2 per cent, so the question is there would have long queue...where were those long queues, we have sought such videos from Election Commission. Next day 3 pm, they tweeted that 66.5 per cent voting took place, which means by next day they increased the voting percentage by 1.3 per cent...we want to ask Election Commission, where did this voting happen?" he added.

'76 lakh more voters polled in state elections'

The opposition has raised questions over EVMs, mentioning the rise in voting percentage in comparison to the parliamentary elections, which were held months ago.

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Rohit Pawar has also alleged that there has been a huge rise in the voting (percentage) in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024.

"In comparison to parliamentary elections, 76 lakh more voters have voted in assembly elections... We need to investigate that. There are a lot of complaints against EVMs," Pawar said.

Earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had demanded the replacement of EVMs with ballot papers, alleging that votes from "SC (Scheduled Caste), ST (Scheduled Tribe), OBC (Other Backward Classes) and poor communities are being wasted."

The Maha Vikas Aghadi - comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Congress - won just 46 seats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the biggest winner, securing 132 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, while its allies - the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP - won 57 and 41 seats, respectively. The Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 were held on November 20, and the results were declared three days later.

(With ANI inputs)