Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday raised serious concerns about alleged irregularities in Maharashtra's voter rolls, claiming an unusual surge in voter registrations between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. Speaking during the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the increase in voters was equivalent to the entire voting population of Himachal Pradesh.
"In Maharashtra, more voters were added in five months than were added in five years," Gandhi stated, highlighting what he described as concerning patterns in voter registration. He cited a specific example from Shirdi, Maharashtra, where reportedly seven thousand new voters were registered in a single building.
The Congress leader emphasised that most of these new voter registrations were concentrated in BJP-winning constituencies. He called for transparency, requesting the Election Commission to provide electronic voter lists with addresses from the Lok Sabha elections to Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP for detailed analysis.
"We are saying to the Election Commission, please give us the names and addresses and polling booths of all the voters in the Lok Sabha and all the voters in the Vidhan Sabha Saba, so we can calculate who these new voters are. Interestingly the new voters are mostly in the constituencies that the BJP has swept. I am still not making an allegation. I am saying on the Floor of the House that the Election Commission has to give the data," he said.
Gandhi also criticised recent changes in the Election Commissioner selection process, particularly the removal of the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee. "Now it's just the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and me. Two to one. What's the purpose of me attending the meeting?" he questioned, suggesting the new arrangement undermines the selection process's fairness.
While careful to frame his statements as observations rather than direct allegations, Gandhi expressed skepticism about receiving the requested data from the Election Commission. "I am very confident that Election Commission will not provide us with data," he concluded.
