Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) held a joint press conference with Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut. In a press conference held at the Deputy Speaker Hall of the Constitution Club of India, Rahul accused of rigging the Maharashtra assembly elections. He also questioned the Election Commission. He claimed that the election results were rigged.
The response was also released by the Election Commission soon after the press conference. He tweeted, ‘The Election Commission considers political parties as priority stakeholders. Of course, voters are the most important and ideas, suggestions and questions coming from political parties are also given great importance. The Commission will respond in writing with equal factual and procedural matrix across the country.
Rahul made serious allegations
Rahul Gandhi said that we are representing the entire opposition to contest the last election in Maharashtra on this table. We are going to bring some information about the election. We have studied the details- voters and voting list. Our teams are working. We have received many irregularities.
Rahul said, ‘We are telling the Election Commission that we are getting disturbances. We need the voters list of voters of Maharashtra. We need a voter list of Lok Sabha elections. We need a voter list of assembly elections. We want to understand what these new names are. There are many voters whose names have been removed. Voters of one booth have been transferred to another booth. Most of these voters come from Dalit communities, tribal communities and minority communities. We have repeatedly requested the Election Commission. They have not responded to us. The Leader of the Opposition has said this in Parliament House. The Election Commission has not responded. Now the only reason for not giving his answer is that there is something wrong with what he has done. I am not making any allegations. I am presently presenting data here. ‘
‘Voters were added equal to the total voters of Himachal Pradesh’
He said, ’32 lakh new voters were added in five years between Assembly 2019 and Lok Sabha 2024 in Maharashtra. Between Lok Sabha 2024 and Vidhan Sabha 2024, 39 lakh new voters were added in 5 months. The question is, how were the voters added more than 5 years added within 5 months? It is equal to the total voters of Himachal Pradesh. The second issue is why the entire voter of the state in Maharashtra has more voters than the population? Somehow voters have been made in Maharashtra in some way.
‘How more voters than Maharashtra’s population in Maharashtra?’
Rahul Gandhi said, ‘We need to understand the difference between two things. One is speculation and the other is the fact. I have not speculated here. I have presented facts. First fact- As many voters as the population of Himachal Pradesh has been added. Wherever such voters have been added, they are the BJP constituencies, wherever the BJP has won, they have been added. Final fact- Election Commission says that there are more voters than the population of Maharashtra. These are not speculation. This is the fact. This is not our data, this is the data of the Election Commission. We are saying that there are factual discrepancies. The Election Commission is the last authority, we are asking them. You will not be able to explain to us how there are more voters than the population of Maharashtra in Maharashtra. So you have to give us voter list now, so that we can explain it. I am sure if they give voter list, then we will hold another press conference here, where you will find answers to these questions.
He said that the matter of concern is that the strategy is to delay. The Election Commission needs to give this data. The next step is that we go to the judicial system. It is a small part of the puzzle. A large part of the puzzle is to be removed by voters. We do not know how many voters have been removed. We know how many couples have been added, we do not know how many have been removed. We suspect that the number of deleted voters is more than the number of voters added.