Rahul Gandhi alleges 'vote theft' in Maharashtra polls, demands machine-readable digital voter rolls amid EC reply

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed “vote theft” in the Maharashtra elections and its “cover-up” by the Election Commission is the “confession”, after a report suggested that around 29,000 votes were added in six months before state polls in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ seat without mandatory verification checks.

Intensifying his attack on the EC, he demanded the “immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage” related to Maharashtra elections, amid the media report that claimed Fadnavis' Nagpur South-West constituency saw the voter list grew by 8.25 per cent in six months between Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, with some booths witnessing a 20-50 per cent surge.

“BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes. (The) media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address. And the EC? Silent – or complicit. These aren’t isolated glitches. This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession. That’s why we demand the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage,” he said.

Countering the allegations, the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer said the copies of draft electoral rolls after Special Summary Revision 2024, which was taken up just before Maharashtra polls, were provided to all parties, including Congress.

Between the draft and final publication of rolls, the CEO said, 19,27,508 claims and objections were received. Only 89 appeals were received claiming wrongful additions or deletions, the official added.

The Election Commission has recently declined to share CCTV footage of polling stations citing privacy concerns while defending the preparation of electoral rolls. Rahul had recently written articles in newspapers calling the Maharashtra election "match fixing".

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said on ‘X’ the Maharashtra Election “mega scam keeps revealing more and more anomalies” and the EC’s “silence on such grave revelations of absurd surges in booths points to a massive cover up”.

He said Rahul has repeatedly demanded “complete transparency" but the EC is refusing to disclose machine-readable voter lists. “The integrity of our electoral system has reached its nadir under the present regime, with constitutional authority evading accountability and ruling party leaders coming to defend it. If this isn’t match fixing, what is?” he said.

In its report, Newslaundry has claimed that 29,219 new voters were added in Nagpur South West seat in six months, which is an increase of 8.25 per cent, more than the threshold of 4 per cent increase set by the EC for mandatory verification checks. The report claimed the verification checks were not done in several polling stations.

The report also claimed that at least 4,000 voters were with no addresses. It said 70 per cent booths had more than 4 per cent vote additions while 26 booths had over 20 per cent and four had over 40 per cent additions. The EC had denied the claims.