NEW DELHI: The Congress party has formally responded to the Election Commission (EC) with a detailed letter raising serious questions about the polling process. This comes days after former party president and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, flagged what he called “vote theft” in Maharashtra assembly polls.The letter highlighted concerns: a “huge increase in electors and voters” between the May 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the November 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra, and an “inexplicable upsurge in polling after 5pm on election day.”“It is irrefutable from EC’s own data that there were more new electors added between the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections held in May and the Vidhan Sabha elections held in November, the same year, than there were in the prior five full years between 2019 assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” the letter reads.Calling for transparency, the Congress has demanded that the EC provide a “machine-readable, digital copy of the Maharashtra voter lists and video footage of the polling day of Maharashtra and Haryana within a week from the date of this letter.” It further added, “This has been a long-standing request that should be easy for the EC to comply with. The Congress party leadership will be happy to meet with the EC soon after we have received these. In that meeting, we will even present our analysis findings to you.”Earlier, in response to Rahul Gandhi’s opinion piece in a newspaper, the Election Commission had refuted the allegations and reaffirmed that all elections are conducted “strictly in accordance with laws passed by Parliament and established rules.”The poll body also underlined the scale of the electoral process, noting it involves thousands of personnel, including booth-level agents appointed by different political parties.“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,” the EC wrote to Rahul Gandhi, according to news agency PTI. “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,” it added.Despite the poll body’s clarification, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his charge, insisting that the irregularities were not mere glitches but a systematic attempt at “vote theft,” and renewed his demand for the immediate release of the digital voter rolls and CCTV footage.
Several allies of the Congress have also repeatedly voiced concerns over the conduct of the Maharashtra elections.
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