Maharashtra polls: EC invites Congress to review ‘legitimate’ concerns in person over results discrepancy | India News

NEW DELHI: Election Commission on Saturday responded to Congress’ allegations of “grave inconsistencies” in voter turnout data in the recently concluded Maharashtra elections and reiterated transparent process in every stage of elections.
The poll body invited a delegation of Congress on December 3 for further review of all its legitimate concern.
“Election Commission of India invites the Indian National Congress (INC) delegation on December 3, 2024. ECI in its interim response to INC reiterate a transparent process with the involvement of candidates/their agents at every stage,” EC said in a statement.
“ECI assures review of INC’s all legitimate concerns and written response after hearing them in person. In its interim response to INC, ECI reiterates transparent electoral roll updation process with involvement of political parties. The Commission has still assured INC of further review of all its legitimate concerns,” it added.
The poll body also asserted that there are no discrepancies in voter turnout data which is available with all candidates polling station wise and is verifiable.
“EC asserts no discrepancy in voter turnout data which is available with all candidates polling station wise and is verifiable. Gap in 5 PM polling data and final voter turnout are due to procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform multiple statutory duties near close of poll before updating voter turnout data,” EC said.
“As an additional disclosure measure, ECI press note at around 11:45 PM was thus introduced during the 2024 General Elections and followed subsequently during all assembly elections thereafter,” it added.
The poll body’s response came a day after Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, Mukul Wasnik and Ramesh Chennithala wrote to the panel raising concerns over “grave inconsistencies” regarding the data pertaining to voting and counting processes of the recently concluded Maharashtra elections.
The grand old party also said that there was an “inexplicable increase” in voter turnout between 5pm and the final voter percentage announced by the EC at 11.30pm on the day of polling.
“With this exercise of unchecked and arbitrary deletion and consequent insertion of voters, the State of Maharashtra witnessed an unprecedented increase of an estimated 47 Lakh voters being added to the electoral roll from between July 2024 – November 2024,” the statement said.
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed concerns about the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and called for their replacement with ballot papers.
“We don’t want EVMs, we want ballot papers,” he had said.
In the recently concluded assembly elections in the state, BJP-led Mahayuti clinched 230 out of 288 seats, with the BJP winning 132, Shiv Sena securing 57, and the NCP taking 41. In contrast, the MVA only managed to win 46 seats, with the Congress contributing a mere 16 to the total.