Amid ECI’s no-mismatch statement, Congress seeks full voter and booth data for Maharashtra polls

New Delhi: The Congress has reiterated its concerns about the significant “discrepancies” observed in voter enrolment and voting patterns during the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, the party highlighted “an alarming increase” in the number of new voters and votes polled in the state’s legislative Assembly elections, when compared to the Lok Sabha elections held just six months prior. The party has sought full voter and booth data for the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The Congress delegation, led by party representatives, had also met with the Election Commission on December 3 to present their findings.

Earlier, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday said no mismatch was found between the votes polled and the corresponding tally of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail slips in random counting in last month’s Maharashtra Assembly elections. The mandatory counting of VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly constituency was completed successfully, the ECI said in a statement.

However, the letter (dated December 10) sent by the Congress’ Data Analytics Department chairman Praveen Chakravarty states, “40 lakh new voters were enrolled, and 75 lakh extra votes were polled in the Vidhan Sabha election vis-a-vis Lok Sabha. This increase of 4.3 per cent in voters enrolled and 13 per cent in votes polled is unusually high compared to previous election cycles in Maharashtra or other states under similar election cycles.”

The party further indicated that the increased voter turnout appeared to allegedly favour the ruling BJP-led alliance.

“We had also presented a list of 118 constituencies in Maharashtra where there were 25,000 or more extra votes were cast versus Lok Sabha elections and the BJP alliance had won 102 in the Vidhan Sabha versus just 58 in the Lok Sabha election,” says the letter referring to the delegation’s meeting with ECI. “As agreed in that meeting, we await further data from the Commission,” says the Congress.

In the letter, the Congress has urged the Election Commission to release the following data at the earliest: (1) Maharashtra Assembly-wise voter rolls in Excel format for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, (2) Maharashtra Assembly-wise voter rolls in Excel format for 2024 Assembly election, and (3) booth wise Form 20 data in excel format for 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

–IANS