Harshavarshan Sapkal
Credit: X/@INCHarshsapkal
Mumbai: Hours after the Haryana vote-chori expose by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party accused the BJP of using a similar pattern in Maharashtra.
“In Haryana, a scam involving 25 lakh fake votes has been exposed — one person’s name appearing 22 times under different identities, even the name of a Brazilian model appearing 22 times, and the same person listed in multiple booths,” Maharashtra Congress President Harshavardhan Sapkal told reporters in Wardha.
“Using this same ‘Haryana pattern,’ the BJP formed a stolen government in Maharashtra,” he said slamming the ruling Maha Yuti.
“Within just six months, the voter count in the state rose by 47 lakh. After polling, the voting percentage mysteriously increased by around 8% overnight. The same flawed voter lists are now being used for local body elections. When opposition parties demanded corrections, the Election Commission ignored them and went ahead with polls — all to benefit the BJP,” Sapkal said.
Sapkal added that it is the Election Commission’s constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections. “But when the Commission becomes the government’s pet, it poses a grave danger to democracy — and that’s exactly what’s happening across the country today,” he said.
Sapkal further criticized the State Election Commission’s recent move to mark duplicate voters with a star. “This clearly means they already have data showing two, three, even hundreds of duplicate entries for a single voter.
The Election Commission should not be running a ‘two-star, second-grade’ operation. Their conduct is outright fraudulent,” he said.
“During the State Election Commission’s recent press conference, journalists repeatedly questioned officials about the discrepancies in voter lists — but not a single question was answered. If elections are held through such corrupt means, what is their value?” Sapkal asked.