New Delhi, April 22: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given a strong response to the recent statements of Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, in which he accused the Commission of being compromising and of some tampering in the system regarding the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Rahul Gandhi claimed during an event in the US that the number of voters who came to vote in the Maharashtra Assembly elections is more than the number of adults in the state.
Election Commission sources clarified in this context on Tuesday that all Indian elections are conducted in accordance with the law and there is complete transparency in their process. The scale and accuracy with which elections are held in India is widely praised around the world. The Commission said, “Any kind of misinformation is not only a sign of disrespect for the law, but it also demoralizes millions of election staff.”
The Commission stressed that 6,40,87,588 voters voted in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, which was an average of 58 lakh votes per hour. The commission said that 65 lakh votes cast in the last two hours is much less than the average trends and it proves that there were no irregularities in the election process.
The voting took place in the presence of official representatives of political parties at every polling station. The Indian National Congress candidates did not make any concrete allegations of any kind of irregularities during the election process. The electoral registration process is completed in accordance with the Electoral Registration Act, 1950 and the Voter Registration Rules, 1960. All national and state political parties are provided a copy of the final electoral roll, including the Congress.
Further, the Election Commission informed that all electoral registration processes are in accordance with the Indian Constitution and only 89 appeals were filed during the Maharashtra elections, which indicates that there were no serious allegations from any political party regarding the election process.
The commission said that 97,325 booth level officers as well as booth level agents were appointed by all political parties at 1,00,427 polling stations. Of these, 27,099 booth level agents were appointed only by the Congress, which shows the transparency of the process.
The Election Commission replied to the Congress on 24 December 2024 with all the facts, which is now available on the Commission’s website. It is clear that repeated ignoring of these facts is reprehensible and undermines democracy.
The Commission termed Rahul Gandhi’s statements as baseless and said that these facts have already been presented and making allegations without proof is detrimental to democracy. The Election Commission has urged all political parties to have faith in the credibility of the election process and refrain from ignoring the facts.
