Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha, voiced his concerns on Friday over discrepancies in the Maharashtra Assembly election results, held last year. He particularly questioned the voter turnout. 

Gandhi pointed out that while the eligible voting population in Maharashtra is reported to be 9.54 crore, a total of 9.7 crore people cast their votes in the Assembly elections. He called on the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify how this was possible. “As per government data, the population eligible to vote in Maharashtra is 9.54 crore. However, 9.7 crore people exercised their franchise in the Assembly polls. How is that possible?” asked Rahul Gandhi.

Gandhi further raised concerns over the rapid increase in voter numbers between elections. According to his statement, 32 lakh voters were added between the 2019 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while another 39 lakh voters were added just five months before the 2024 Assembly elections. Gandhi highlighted the issue in Parliament but claimed there had been no response from the ECI.

“In Kamti Vidhan Sabha, Congress received 1.36 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha polls, but only 1.34 lakh votes in the Vidhan Sabha elections. BJP, however, saw a significant increase in votes—from 1.19 lakh to 1.75 lakh,” claims Rahul Gandhi.

Transparency in Election

Recently, Rahul Gandhi raised two significant allegations in Parliament related to the elections. The first claim was that 70 lakh new voters were added to Maharashtra’s electoral rolls within just five months, spanning from the Lok Sabha to the Assembly elections. The second allegation stated that 7,000 new voters had been registered using the address of a single building in Shirdi.

Gandhi emphasised the need for transparency in the election process, requesting the final voters list from the ECI to understand these discrepancies. He stressed that his claims were based on facts, not speculation, and called for a judicial inquiry if necessary. Gandhi also raised concerns about voter deletion, stating that while the number of added voters is known, the deleted voter data is unclear.

“The big piece of the puzzle is voter deletion. We know how many voters have been added, but we don’t know how many have been deleted,” adds the Congress leader.

Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, supported Gandhi’s concerns, accusing the Election Commission of acting in favour of the current government. He also claimed that the same pattern of voter manipulation seen in Maharashtra was now being replicated in Delhi.

Raut says, “They have run the Maharashtra pattern here (Delhi election) as well.”