Rahul Gandhi continues to attack fairness of election process despite Election Commission’s advice

arun Posted On January 19, 2025

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Rahul Gandhi questioned the number of one crore new voters in Maharashtra assembly elections. He demanded the Election Commission to share voter list and address information. The Election Commission rejected this claim as ‘misleading’. According to the Election Commission, the number of new voters is 40 lakh, not one crore.

Reported by Anubhuti Vishnoi | Edited by Utkarsh Gaharwar

Rahul Gandhi claims one crore new voters in Maharashtra elections

Election Commission has termed Rahul’s allegations as ‘misleading’, presented data

ECI refutes Congress’ allegations on changes in voter list

New Delhi: In his address at the inauguration of the new Congress office on January 15, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi again claimed that the Maharashtra assembly elections were ‘clearly wrong’ and pointed to ‘one crore additional voters’ in the state between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. He also demanded that the names and addresses of those who voted in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state should be shared for electoral transparency. The Election Commission rejected Rahul Gandhi’s claim as misleading. Let’s take a look at these allegations of Rahul and the data given by the Election Commission on Maharashtra elections.

What did Rahul claim in the speech?

Rahul Gandhi claimed in his speech that about one crore new voters have been added in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, which is a matter of concern. This information has been given in the text of the speech available on the Congress website. However, the party’s complaint to the EC on November 29, 2024, said that more than 50,000 voters were added between July and November 2024 in 50 assembly constituencies. The complaint also said that the ruling party won 47 of these 50 seats. The ECI has not yet responded to Rahul Gandhi’s claim, but in its reply to the party’s complaint on December 24, 2024, the ECI called the Congress’ allegations “misleading and factually incorrect”.

Read the Election Commission’s response

Contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s claim of “over one crore” new voters (who voted), according to the ECI’s response, only 40.8 lakh new voters (who are entitled to vote) have been added to the voter list. The ECI informed that 48,81,620 new voters were added to the voter list between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and 8,00,391 voters were deleted, resulting in a total increase of 40,81,229 voters. Of these, 8,72,094 voters were in the 18-19 age group and 17,74,514 voters were in the 20-29 age group. Of the total, 26,46,608 new voters were in the 18-29 age group, which the ECI did not consider “unusual” for a large state like Maharashtra.

The ECI said this is a welcome sign of the growing participation of youth, made possible due to four eligibility dates in a year and the ECI’s efforts to enrol maximum eligible voters. The ECI also clarified that only 6 assembly constituencies saw more than 50,000 voters added, and not 50 assembly constituencies as alleged by the Congress. Names of 8,00,391 voters were deleted from the electoral rolls, which is an average of 2779 per assembly constituency. According to the ECI, these names were deleted due to death, transfer and duplication.

How much truth is there in Rahul’s allegations?

Rahul Gandhi, in his speech at the inauguration of the new Congress office, said that the ECI refused to give him the voter list for the Maharashtra elections. He said that if there has been an increase of one crore in voters between Maharashtra Lok Sabha and Assembly, then it is the duty and sacred responsibility of the Election Commission to tell us exactly why this has happened and they are refusing to do so. However, the ECI has something else to say. The Congress party had written a letter to the ECI on December 10, 2024, seeking voter list data.

In its reply to the party, the ECI said that the CEO of Maharashtra had informed that the Congress was informed and copies of the draft list, claims and objections were provided to the Congress in all constituencies of Maharashtra. Congress representatives had participated in the revision of the voter list at various stages till it was finalized.

The ECI also pointed out that under Rule 22 (c) of the Registration of Voters Rules, 1960, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) provides two copies of the final published voter list free of cost to the representatives of each recognised party. This rule applies uniformly throughout the country. Similarly, booth-wise Form 20 data is available on the CEO’s website.

The ECI wrote that you will agree that such baseless allegations on behalf of a high-ranking national party create unnecessary and avoidable doubts and anxiety in the minds of the public, even when the data is publicly available and shared with all parties in a timely manner.

Cannot show names of voters

Rahul Gandhi said in his latest speech that the party wants to see the names of voters who voted in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra and we want to see the names and addresses of voters who voted in the assembly elections and the ECI has refused to share this data. However, sharing the names and addresses of voters who have cast their votes is a complicated matter and would violate Section 94 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which clearly states that the “secrecy of the vote” should not be violated. Several Supreme Court orders have also held that secret ballot is the cornerstone of free and fair elections, people in the know said.