Maharashtra Politics: Congress on Friday (29 November 2024) wrote a letter to the Election Commission alleging serious irregularities in the voting and counting process of the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections. Congress has also demanded a personal hearing on this issue.
Congress has alleged that ‘voters were arbitrarily removed from the voter list and more than 10,000 voters were added in each assembly constituency. A former Chief Electoral Officer has also raised questions on the voter list of Maharashtra.
Congress mentioned in its letter that, ‘Due to this process of arbitrary deletion and addition, about 47 lakh new voters were included in the voter list in Maharashtra between July 2024 and November 2024.’
The party claimed that, ‘out of 50 assembly constituencies, which attracted an average of 50,000 new voters, the ruling alliance and its allies won 47 seats.’
Questions are being raised on the sudden increase in voting percentage.
Congress also raised questions on the data released by the Election Commission. The party said, ‘Around 76 lakh votes were cast between 5 pm and 6 pm on November 21, 2024.’
Congress objected to EVM
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also raised questions on the reliability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and demanded the use of ballot papers. He said, ‘We want ballot papers, not EVMs.’
It is noteworthy that in the current assembly elections, the BJP led Mahayuti alliance has won 230 out of 288 seats. BJP got 132 seats, Shiv Sena got 57 seats and NCP got 41 seats. At that time, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won a total of 46 seats, while Congress’s participation was reduced to only 16 seats.
