New Delhi, February 7:- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has reiterated his concerns over alleged electoral discrepancies in the 2024 Maharashtra elections, claiming that the opposition has uncovered multiple irregularities in the voter list. Addressing a media briefing in New Delhi on Friday, he asserted that the findings point to a larger issue of electoral malpractice.
“We represent the entire opposition that contested the Maharashtra elections, and after analyzing the voter data, we have discovered several anomalies,” Gandhi stated. He emphasized that his party, along with allies from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) saw no significant change in their vote share between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) experienced a sharp increase.
Discrepancies in Voter Data
Rahul Gandhi pointed out a critical issue with the increase in BJP votes, among other things. According to his analysis, the saffron party secured 1.19 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha elections, but this number rose to 1.75 lakh votes in the Vidhan Sabha elections—an increase of 35,000 new votes. He proposed that these extra votes were particularly for BJP, which has invited suspicions regarding voter roll rigging.
Supporting his claims with data published by the Union Health Ministry, Gandhi claimed that the registered electorate population of Maharashtra was larger than the state’s entire adult population, a statistical anomaly, as he explained.
“We need full disclosure of the voter lists from both the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. We need to study who these newly enrolled voters are and why such large numbers of voters are struck off from voter lists or transferred, especially voters from Schedule castes/tribals,” he chided.
Election Commission’s Silence Questioned
The Congress MP alleged that the *Election Commission (EC) has not responded to their complaints, suggesting that the secrecy points to electoral malpractice. EC has rejected our queries as it has been the case of wrong doing in election process,” Gandhi claimed.
Our questions to the Election Commission on the Maharashtra elections:
– Why did EC add more voters in Maharashtra in 5 months than it did in 5 years?
– Why were there more registered voters in VS 2024 than the entire adult population of Maharashtra?
– One example among many… pic.twitter.com/K7fOWdnXmV
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 7, 2025
In posting to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), he also put EC on the spot, inquiring:.
- Why did the EC add more voters in Maharashtra in just five months than it did in the previous five years?
- Why was the number of registered voters in the Vidhan Sabha elections higher than the total adult population of Maharashtra?
Citing the Kamthi constituency, Gandhi pointed out that the BJP’s margin of victory closely matched the number of newly added voters, raising suspicions of voter manipulation.
Earlier Allegations in Lok Sabha Debate
Speaking in Parliament, in the motion of thanks debate in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi had expressed apprehensions on the Maharashtra electoral mechanism. He claimed that nearly 70 lakh new voters were added between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections—a figure he compared to the entire population of Himachal Pradesh.
He cited another case from Shirdi, where over 7,000 voters were allegedly added in a single building, calling it highly suspicious. “There is something problematic in all this,” he remarked.
BJP’s Landslide Victory in Maharashtra Elections
Just like the opposition claimed, BJP and its coalliances won the most lopsided victory ever in Maharashtra election. The Mahayuti coalition government headed by the BJP, made up of 17 constituents, obtained 235/288 seats (including the BJP who captured 132 seats) . The Maha Vikas Aghadi sustained a heavy backlash to the effective roll of the ruling combination.
Although the *Election Commission has not reacted, Gandhi’ allegations have further fueled the debate about the electoral integrity in Maharashtra. His demand for transparency puts pressure on the EC to clarify the sudden spike in voter registrations and alleged vote transfer irregularities.
With political acrimony growing, the opposition seems likely to intensify its demand for an inquiry, in the process turning electoral reform a central aspect of the coming political conversation.
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