'Will reply with facts': EC after Rahul Gandhi's Maharashtra voters claim

Rahul Gandhi claimed that a total of 39 lakh voters were added between Lok Sabha and state assembly elections

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the Election Commissoin, alleging that there are more voters in Maharashtra than the state's total population. In reply, the poll panel said it will respond with full facts in writing to the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha's claim.

 

Rahul Gandhi, along with Congress' Maharashtra allies - Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) - claimed that a total of 39 lakh voters were added between Lok Sabha and state assembly elections to boost the BJP's tally.

 

Citing government data, Gandhi said the adult population of Maharashtra is 9.54 crore while there are 9.7 crore voters in the state.

 

Addressing a joint press conference, the Congress MP claimed that the total number of voters added in Maharashtra was equivalent to the population of a state like Himachal Pradesh, and urged the Election Commission to provide them list of voters and come clean on the issue.

 

He said if the poll panel does not provide the voter lists of assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, it poses a serious question.

 

"We are now heading towards complete destruction of Constitution. But, we are in the business of protecting the Constitution," Gandhi said.

 

He said the next step would be to knock at the doors of the judiciary. "It is surprising to me that the EC is not ready to give us voter lists and the only reason possible is that there is something wrong and they know it," Gandhi claimed.

 

What did Election Commission say?

 

In a post on X, the Election Commission said it will respond with full facts in writing. "ECI considers political parties, as priority stake holders, of course the voters being the prime and deeply values views, suggestions, questions coming from political parties," the post read.

 

"Commission would respond in writing with full factual & procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country," it added, without naming Rahul Gandhi or referring to his allegations.  (With inputs from PTI)