Despite the advice of the Election Commission, Rahul Gandhi’s attacks on the fairness of the election process continue.

New Delhi: In his/her address at the inauguration of the new Congress office on 15 January, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi again claimed that the Maharashtra Assembly elections were ‘patently wrong’ and that there would be ‘one crore additional voters’ in the state between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. ‘ Pointed towards. he/she also demanded that the names and addresses of those who voted in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state should be shared for electoral transparency. The Election Commission rejected this claim of Rahul Gandhi as misleading. Let us look at these allegations of Rahul and the data given by the Election Commission on Maharashtra elections.What did Rahul claim in his/her speech?
Rahul Gandhi claimed in his/her speech that around one crore new voters have been added between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra, which is a matter of concern. This information is given in the text of the speech available on the Congress website. However, the party’s complaint to the EC dated November 29, 2024, said that more than 50,000 voters were added between July and November 2024 in 50 assembly constituencies. The complaint also said that the ruling party won 47 out of these 50 seats. The ECI is yet to respond to Rahul Gandhi’s claim, but responding to the party’s complaint on December 24, 2024, the ECI described Congress’s allegations as “misleading and factually incorrect”.

Also read the answer of the Election Commission
Contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s claim of “more than one crore” new voters (who voted), according to the ECI’s reply, only 40.8 lakh new voters (who are entitled to vote) have been added to the voter list. The ECI said that 48,81,620 new voters were added to the electoral rolls and 8,00,391 names were deleted between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, resulting in a total increase of 40,81,229 voters. Of these, 8,72,094 voters were in the 18-19 age group and 17,74,514 voters were in the 20-29 age group. Of the total, 26,46,608 new voters were in the 18-29 age group, which the ECI considered not “unusual” for a large state like Maharashtra.

ECI said this is a welcome sign of increasing youth participation, which has been made possible due to the four qualification dates in a year and ECI’s efforts to enroll maximum eligible voters. The ECI also clarified that only 6 assembly constituencies had more than 50,000 voters and not 50 as alleged by the Congress. Names of 8,00,391 voters were removed from the voter list, which is an average of 2779 per assembly constituency. According to ECI, these names were removed due to death, transfer and duplication.

How much truth is there in Rahul’s allegations?
Rahul Gandhi, in his/her speech at the inauguration of the new Congress office, said that the ECI refused to give him/her the voter list for the Maharashtra elections. he/she said that if there has been an increase of one crore voters between Maharashtra Lok Sabha and Assembly, then it is the duty and sacred responsibility of the Election Commission to tell us exactly why this has happened and they are refusing to do so. However, ECI says something else. The Congress party had written a letter to the ECI on December 10, 2024, seeking voter list data.

In a reply to the party, the ECI said that the Maharashtra CEO had informed that the Congress had been informed and copies of the draft list, claims and objections had been provided to the Congress in all constituencies in Maharashtra. Congress representatives participated in the revision of the voter list at various stages until its finalization.

The ECI also pointed out that under Rule 22(c) of the Electoral Registration Rules, 1960, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) provides two copies of the finally published electoral roll free of cost to the representatives of each recognized party. This rule applies equally throughout the country. Similarly, booth-wise Form 20 data is available on the CEO’s website.

The ECI wrote that you would agree that such baseless allegations from a high-ranking national party create unnecessary and avoidable suspicion and anxiety in the minds of the public, even when the data is publicly available and with all parties involved. Is shared on time.

Cannot show names of voters
Rahul Gandhi in his/her latest speech said that the party wants to see the names of the voters who voted in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra and we want to see the names and addresses of the voters who voted in the Assembly elections and the ECI has refused to share this data. Has given. However, sharing the names and addresses of voters who cast their votes is a complex matter and would be a violation of Section 94 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which clearly states that the “secrecy of voting” should not be violated. Informed people said that many orders of the Supreme Court have also acknowledged that secret ballot is the cornerstone of free and fair elections.