Rahul Gandhi Questions EC On Maharashtra Election Results: 'More Voters Than State's Entire Population'

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, expressed concerns over the results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections on Friday and questioned the Election Commission of India about how 9.7 crore people cast their votes when the state's adult population stands at 9.4 crore.

"We are not levelling any allegations against the ECI. We only want the final voters' list. It is your responsibility to ensure transparency. According to government data, the eligible voting population in Maharashtra is 9.54 crore. However, 9.7 crore people exercised their right to vote in the Assembly polls. How is that possible?" Rahul Gandhi asked.

He continued, "32 lakh voters were added between the 2019 Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, 39 lakh voters were added between the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the Assembly elections the same year. This happened in just five months. As the LOP, I raised this issue in Parliament, but the EC has not yet responded."

In response to these statements, the Election Commission said it would provide in writing all the facts that Rahul Gandhi had requested.

#WATCH | Delhi | Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, "...In 5 years between the Vidhan Sabha elections in 2019 and Lok Sabha, 2024 - 32 lakh voters were added. However, in period of 5 months between Lok Sabha 2024 which these parties (Congress, NCP-SCP, Shiv Sena… pic.twitter.com/ixM1aU2J7O

— ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2025

"The ECI considers political parties as priority stakeholders, with voters being the prime stakeholders, and deeply values the views, suggestions, and questions raised by political parties. The Commission will respond in writing with the full factual and procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country," it stated via a post on the social media platform X.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi had raised two allegations in Parliament regarding the polls - first, that 70 lakh voters were added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls in just five months between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, and second, that 7,000 new voters were registered from the same address of a building in Shirdi.

On November 29, six days after the Maharashtra Assembly election results were announced, Congress wrote to the Election Commission and a delegation met the Commission to highlight what they described as a "shocking" 13% increase in electors in the state since the Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress representation to the EC requested "raw data" for the 39 lakh electors added to the rolls.

In response, the EC wrote back on December 24, explaining that there had been 48,81,620 additions and 8,00,391 deletions, resulting in a net increase of 40,81,229 electors in the state from the time of the Lok Sabha elections to the Assembly polls.

The EC noted that following amendments to the Representation of the People Act, there are now four qualifying dates for new electors turning 18: January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. The Commission added that the additions included 8,72,094 electors in the 18-19 age group and 17,74,514 electors in the 20-29 age group.

"Thus, 26,46,608 young electors in the age group of 18-29 were added out of the total addition of 40,81,229 electors during the period. This is a welcome trend of youth participation, the future of our democracy. Therefore, the additions made during this period in a large state like Maharashtra show no visible abnormal trend," the EC had concluded in its reply.