<p>Mumbai: Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) founder-President Prakash Ambedkar on Friday alleged that discrepancies in the 2024 Legislative Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were similar. </p><p>A lawyer, activist and politician, Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, is a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Akola and one-term Rajya Sabha member. </p><p>Ambedkar referred to the analysis of economist Dr Parakala Prabhakar. </p><p>“In Dr Prabhakar’s analysis, which quoted the official notifications of the Election Commission of India, around 4.16% of the total votes were cast between 11.45 pm and 2 am. And, 52 lakh votes were recorded between 8 pm and 2 am. More than 17 lakh votes were cast after midnight alone”, said Prakash Ambedkar. </p>.Female leopard rescued from 35-feet well in Maharashtra.<p>“This is very much in line with the discrepancies in and doubtful mandate of 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, which VBA had brought to the attention of both the Election Commission and the electorate of Maharashtra,” added Ambedkar.</p><p>The VBA had written a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, on December 12, 2024, highlight the raised serious concerns over the wide variation between the provisional voter turnout figures and the final data in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections.</p><p>“Like Andhra Pradesh, there was an astonishing jump in voting after the official end of the polling time in Maharashtra. The voting percentage at 5 PM was 58.22 percent, and the final voter turnout, released the counting, saw it go up by an astonishing 7.83 percent to 66.05 percent,” he said. </p><p>“According to the official notifications released by the Election Commission of India, between 5 PM and 11.30 PM, on November 20, 2024, the total increase in gross number in total votes polled is 65,97,708 – almost 66 lakhs! What is more surprising that a few hours before the counting, again, there was an increase of 9,99,359 in the total votes polled! Cumulatively, from the 5 PM on November 20 to 10 PM on November 22, there was an increase of 75,97,067 votes polled,” he said. </p><p>“Like Andhra Pradesh, no Form 17C, which includes data on the number of votes polled in each booth, was not made released and uploaded in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections 2024. Such similarities in the discrepancies in the both the electoral process can mean only one thing – the electoral process is no longer fair, inducement-free and transparent,” he said. </p><p>Ambedkar had personally written to the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on two different occasions – January 16, 2025 and August 10, 2025 – invitation for a collaborative fight and to join VBA’s legal fight against the discrepancies in the elections.</p><p>“VBA had invited the Congress to intervener in our Supreme Court case through an intervention application”, said Ambedkar.</p><p>The VBA chief hit out at the Congress and Gandhi saying: “Had the INC accepted VBA’s invitation for a collaborative fight, the discrepancies in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections 2024 could have been exposed then. And, perhaps, there could have been no possibility of repetitions of such discrepancies in future elections…when will Rahul wake up to the reality?.” </p>
<p>Mumbai: Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) founder-President Prakash Ambedkar on Friday alleged that discrepancies in the 2024 Legislative Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were similar. </p><p>A lawyer, activist and politician, Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, is a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Akola and one-term Rajya Sabha member. </p><p>Ambedkar referred to the analysis of economist Dr Parakala Prabhakar. </p><p>“In Dr Prabhakar’s analysis, which quoted the official notifications of the Election Commission of India, around 4.16% of the total votes were cast between 11.45 pm and 2 am. And, 52 lakh votes were recorded between 8 pm and 2 am. More than 17 lakh votes were cast after midnight alone”, said Prakash Ambedkar. </p>.Female leopard rescued from 35-feet well in Maharashtra.<p>“This is very much in line with the discrepancies in and doubtful mandate of 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, which VBA had brought to the attention of both the Election Commission and the electorate of Maharashtra,” added Ambedkar.</p><p>The VBA had written a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, on December 12, 2024, highlight the raised serious concerns over the wide variation between the provisional voter turnout figures and the final data in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections.</p><p>“Like Andhra Pradesh, there was an astonishing jump in voting after the official end of the polling time in Maharashtra. The voting percentage at 5 PM was 58.22 percent, and the final voter turnout, released the counting, saw it go up by an astonishing 7.83 percent to 66.05 percent,” he said. </p><p>“According to the official notifications released by the Election Commission of India, between 5 PM and 11.30 PM, on November 20, 2024, the total increase in gross number in total votes polled is 65,97,708 – almost 66 lakhs! What is more surprising that a few hours before the counting, again, there was an increase of 9,99,359 in the total votes polled! Cumulatively, from the 5 PM on November 20 to 10 PM on November 22, there was an increase of 75,97,067 votes polled,” he said. </p><p>“Like Andhra Pradesh, no Form 17C, which includes data on the number of votes polled in each booth, was not made released and uploaded in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections 2024. Such similarities in the discrepancies in the both the electoral process can mean only one thing – the electoral process is no longer fair, inducement-free and transparent,” he said. </p><p>Ambedkar had personally written to the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on two different occasions – January 16, 2025 and August 10, 2025 – invitation for a collaborative fight and to join VBA’s legal fight against the discrepancies in the elections.</p><p>“VBA had invited the Congress to intervener in our Supreme Court case through an intervention application”, said Ambedkar.</p><p>The VBA chief hit out at the Congress and Gandhi saying: “Had the INC accepted VBA’s invitation for a collaborative fight, the discrepancies in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections 2024 could have been exposed then. And, perhaps, there could have been no possibility of repetitions of such discrepancies in future elections…when will Rahul wake up to the reality?.” </p>