Reiterating its allegations of electoral malpractice during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, the Congress party today (26 June, Thursday) demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) provide a machine-readable, digital copy of the voter lists for Maharashtra and video footage from the polling days in both Maharashtra and Haryana.
The party has given the Commission a one-week deadline to comply.
In a strongly worded letter sent to the ECI following a meeting of the Congress' Election Analysis Group for Legislative Elections (EAGLE) on Wednesday, 25 June, the party stated that the EC’s own data reveals an unprecedented spike in new voters between the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the Maharashtra assembly elections held six months later.
‘This has never happened before and defies basic common sense and logic,’ the letter reads. ‘Who are these new voters, and where did they come from?’
The EAGLE team — which includes senior Congress leaders such as Ajay Maken, Praveen Chakravarty, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Digvijaya Singh, Pawan Khera, Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Nitin Raut and Vamsi Chand Reddy — asserted that between May and November 2024, more new electors were added in Maharashtra than during the five years between the 2019 assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
‘To properly investigate this anomaly, any rational person would agree that the first step is to compare the final electoral rolls of the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. This is what we have been requesting for seven months now — a digital, machine-readable version of both lists to allow a fair, apples-to-apples comparison,’ the letter stated.
Criticising the ECI’s response so far, the letter said, ‘It is both intriguing and puzzling that the Commission has responded with everything except the two voter lists. Why not simply provide them? If you have them, share them. If you don’t, then that raises even more questions about transparency and accountability.’
The party also questioned the EC’s refusal to share video footage from polling day, stating that the lack of access ‘raises further doubts and suspicion’.
The letter dismissed the EC’s previous explanations about the process of adding or deleting voters, calling them evasive.
‘It is neither helpful nor productive to deflect from our straightforward requests by blaming political parties’ organisational issues or by claiming that these lists were shared with individual candidates,’ the Congress said.
The ECI has repeatedly denied Congress’ allegations of voter list manipulation and unauthorised voting, claiming all due procedures were followed.
On the other hand, the party noted that since December 2024, several INDIA bloc leaders have raised concerns through letters, press conferences, parliamentary speeches and public forums about the sudden and inexplicable increase in voter numbers and a suspicious spike in polling after 5 p.m. on election day in Maharashtra.
‘This has been a long-standing, legitimate demand,’ the letter adds, on the quest for the complete voter lists.
‘The Election Commission should have no difficulty in complying if it is indeed committed to transparency and free and fair elections,’ it concludes.
Questions a fair-minded ECI cannot ignore
