NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday responded to Congress’ allegations of “gross inconsistencies” in voter turnout data in the recently concluded Maharashtra elections and reiterated transparent procedures at every stage of the elections.
Also read: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole says EC should look into sudden rise in poll percentage
The pollster invited the congressional delegation on Dec. 3 to further examine all of its legitimate concerns.
“election commission of india A delegation from the Indian National Congress (INC) is invited to attend on December 3, 2024. express.
“The ECI ensured that the review was conducted after personally hearing all legitimate concerns and written replies from the INC. In its interim response to the INC, the ECI reiterated the transparent electoral roll update process with the participation of political parties. The Commission remains assured that INC will further Review all its issues.
The pollster also claimed that there were no discrepancies in the voter turnout data, which was available at all candidate polling stations and could be verified.
“The Electoral Commission claims there are no discrepancies in the voter turnout data, which is available at all candidate polling stations and is verifiable. The gap between the 5pm polling data and the final voter turnout is due to procedural priorities , as polling officials perform a number of statutory duties before polls close.
It added: “As an additional disclosure measure, the ECI issued a press briefing at approximately 11:45 pm during the 2024 general elections and followed it during all subsequent parliamentary elections.”
A day before the pollsters responded, Maharashtra Congress presidents Nana Patole, Mukul Wasnik and Ramesh Chenni Ramesh Chennithala wrote to the panel expressing concern over “serious inconsistencies” in data on the voting and counting process of the recently concluded Maharashtra state elections.
The Grand Old Party also stated that there was an “inexplicable increase” in voter turnout between 5 pm on the day of the poll and 11:30 pm on the day of the election when the final percentage of voters announced by the Election Commission was announced.
Also read: After Maharashtra loss, Congress says poll process was compromised
“Through this uncontrolled, arbitrary deletion and subsequent insertion of voters, Maharashtra witnessed the deprivation of approximately 4.7 million voters from July 2024 to November 2024,” the statement read. Unprecedented growth added to the electoral roll.
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed concerns over the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and called for replacing them with ballot papers.
“We don’t want EVMs, we want votes,” he said.
In the recently concluded assembly elections in the state, the BJP-led Mahayutthi Party won 230 of the 288 seats, of which the BJP won 132 seats and the Shiv Sena won 57 seats, The National Congress Party won 41 seats.
