Flagging alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that there weren't isolated glitches but "vote theft" and demanded the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls as well as CCTV footage.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha shared on X a media report which claimed that in just six months between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Maharashtra assembly polls, Nagpur South West -- the seat held by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis -- added 29,219 new voters.
"In Maharashtra CM's own constituency, the voter list grew by 8% in just 5 months. Some booths saw a 20-50% surge. BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes," Gandhi said in his post.
"Media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address. And the EC? Silent -- or complicit. These aren't isolated glitches. This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession," he said.
"That's why we demand the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage," Gandhi added.
Fadnavis hits back
Responding to Gandhi's allegations, Fadnavis asking the Congress leader to first speak to his party's elected MLAs before "shooting arrows blindly".
In a post on X, Fadnavis used a Hindi proverb to mock Gandhi's claims and cited specific constituencies to counter the charge of discrepancies in the voter list. "Jhooth bole kauwa kaate, kaale kauwe se dariyo'... Rahul Gandhi, I understand the sting of your humiliating defeat in Maharashtra is intensifying by the day. But how long will you keep shooting arrows blindly?" he wrote on X.
The chief minister pointed out that more than 25 constituencies in Maharashtra saw more than 8 percent increase in voter numbers between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, and in many of these, the Congress or its allies emerged victorious.
"In West Nagpur, next to my own South West seat, voter count rose by 7 percent (27,065), and Congress candidate Vikas Thakre won. In North Nagpur, there was a 7 percent rise (29,348 voters), and the Congress' Nitin Raut secured victory," he said.
"In Vadgaon Sheri (Pune), voter numbers jumped by 10 percent (50,911), and Bapu Pathare from the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won. In Malad West, the increase was 11 percent (38,625), and your own party's Aslam Shaikh was elected. In Mumbra, there was a 9 percent increase (46,041), and Jitendra Awhad from the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won," he wrote in the post.
Taking a dig at Gandhi's communication style, Fadnavis said the Congress leader should have spoken to his long-time colleagues Aslam Shaikh, Vikas Thakare, or Nitin Raut before tweeting. "This way, you wouldn't have exposed the Congress party's lack of internal communication so embarrassingly," he said.
Notably, Rahul's remarks came on the day it emerged that the Election Commission has formally written to him on his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls, saying all polls held by the poll panel strictly as per laws passed by Parliament and rules, and the entire exercise involves thousands of personnel, including booth-level agents appointed by political parties.
In a letter emailed to him on June 12 in response to his article written in a leading daily, the EC has said the entire election process is conducted in a decentralised manner at the assembly constituency level, which involved more than 1,00,186 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), 288 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 139 General Observers, 41 Police Observers, 71 Expenditure Observers and 288 Returning Officers (ROS) appointed by the Comrnission.
"We presume that any issue regarding conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law (high court) by the INC candidates," it told the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
"However, if you still have any issues, you are welcome to write to us and the Commission is also willing to meet you in person at a mutually convenient date and time to discuss all issues," the poll authority said.
(With inputs from PTI)
