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New Delhi ’30 Nov 2024: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has invited a Congress delegation to meet on December 3 to address its concerns regarding the voting percentage in the recent Maharashtra elections. The Congress had also raised issues related to the EVM process following the Haryana assembly elections. The ECI assured that it would review all legitimate concerns and provide a written response after the meeting.
In its interim response to Congress, the Election Commission reaffirmed the transparency of the electoral process, emphasizing that candidates and their agents are involved at every stage, including the verification of voter turnout data, which is available to all candidates at the polling station level. The ECI also reiterated that the electoral roll updation process is transparent, involving political parties, and assured that it would further review the concerns raised by the Congress.
Regarding Congress’s allegations about discrepancies in voter turnout data, the ECI clarified that there is no inconsistency. The gap between the 5 PM polling data and the final voter turnout figure is due to procedural requirements as presiding officers have several statutory duties before updating the data. As a measure of transparency, the ECI introduced a press note at around 11:45 PM during the 2024 General Elections, which was followed in subsequent assembly elections as well.
On Friday, Congress alleged that the integrity of the electoral process had been compromised and criticized the Election Commission’s handling of the matter. The issue was discussed at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, where the party announced plans to launch a “national movement” to address public concerns. “The Congress Working Committee believes that free and fair elections are a constitutional mandate, and it has been seriously questioned due to the Election Commission’s partisan functioning,” the party’s statement read.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal also claimed that “electoral malpractices” influenced the results in the Haryana Assembly elections. He noted that the party’s performance in Haryana was not as expected, despite the party’s strong standing, and pointed to alleged electoral irregularities.
Regarding Maharashtra, where Congress was part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, party leaders expressed shock at the election results. Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole wrote to the ECI questioning the significant increase in voter turnout, particularly the 7.83% rise after official polling hours had concluded. Patole asked for clarification on the number of constituencies where long queues were present after 5 PM, and demanded video evidence to substantiate the official figures.
The ECI had reported a voter turnout of 65.2% by 11:30 PM on November 20, which rose to 66.05% by 3 PM the following day. Patole raised concerns about the 1.03% discrepancy, and questioned how nearly 10 lakh additional votes could be recorded in such a short time.
The opposition has raised concerns over EVMs and the increase in voter turnout in the Maharashtra elections, with the MVA coalition—comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress—winning just 46 seats, while the BJP emerged as the largest party with 132 seats, along with its allies Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar), who secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively. The Maharashtra assembly elections took place on November 20, and the results were declared on November 23.
