Rahul on warpath | 'It's like adding entire Himachal to Maharashtra voters list'

It was Rahul Gandhi's day in Parliament. On Monday (February 3), Rahul, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP from Rae Bareli stirred up a storm, taking on the Narendra Modi government over several issues.

Wearing his trademark white t-shirt and waving his trademark red hardbound copy of the Constitution, Rahul spoke about unemployment, the presidential address last Friday, and Chinese incursions in India.

Also read: Fuming MVA plans nationwide protest against EVMs after Maharashtra rout

Rahul also raised doubts on the outcome of the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“Almost 70 lakh new voters were added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls between Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. That’s as much as the population of Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, all new voters are in the constituencies where BJP has won. In a single building in Shirdi, over 7,000 voters were added. There is something problematic in all this,” said Rahul.

“Just prior to the Lok Sabha the Election Commissioner was changed and two new people were placed. These are facts not things that I am changing. The entire Opposition requests the data for the Maharashtra elections. And I am confident that the EC will not give us this data,” he said.

The Rae Bareli MP said that he had not made any baseless claims, and that his party had repeatedly appealed to the Election Commission on this. “We have asked them for the list of voters in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha. This list has not been provided to us, despite multiple request,” he added.

“EC has to give data of Maharashtra polls to Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) so that we can see where voters were added,” he said alleging that more voters were added in Maharashtra in five months after LS polls than in five years before that.

Selection of CEC

Rahul said the Election Commissioner used to be chosen by a committee comprising the prime minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India but the CJI was removed from the panel by the government.

"This raises a crucial question for the Prime Minister: why was this change made? In a few days, I will be attending a meeting with Mr Amit Shah and Mr Modi, which seems like an uneven playing field, with a 2:1 ratio. What's the point of my attendance? Am I merely there to rubber-stamp what Modi ji and Amit Shah ji say?" he said.

The presence of the CJI would have facilitated a more balanced discussion, he said, adding this change to remove the CJI appears to be a deliberate strategy.

"Furthermore, the Election Commissioner was replaced just before the Lok Sabha elections, two election commissioners were appointed. To safeguard the Constitution, the entire Opposition is requesting data on the Maharashtra Election," Rahul said.

Presidential address

Rahul's address was centred around on what an INDIA bloc government's presidential address would look like.

"The third element of the presidential address would be a determining the defence of India's institutions, democratic system, a re-look at the entire democratic framework and looking again at all the institutions that have been taken away from the people of India," he said.

His remarks in the Lower House came a day after the Congress set up an eight-member committee —Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) — to monitor the conduct of free and fair elections by the Election Commission. The committee will first take up the Maharashtra voters' list "manipulation" issue, and submit a detailed report to the leadership at the earliest, the party had said in a statement.

From 47 lakh to 1 crore

Interestingly, the Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have quoted different numbers on different occasions when it comes to their allegation of addition of voters in Maharashtra between 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the state Assembly polls.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on January 25, All India Professionals’ Congress chairperson Praveen Chakravarty, said, “In the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections held six months after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 48 lakh voters have increased. Notably, if the number of voters increased by 32 lakh in the five years from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, then how did the number of voters increase by 48 lakh in just six months?”

Also read: Maharashtra polls conducted transparently, legitimate concerns will be reviewed: EC to Congress

Following the inauguration of the new Congress office in Delhi on January 15, Rahul said, “We are not comfortable with the way the EC is holding elections, that large number of people, one crore voters, who have suddenly appeared between Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, is problematic.”

Some more numbers

Prior to it, addressing the CWC meet in Belagavi in December last year, Rahul said, “There was a big change in the voters list. Around 72 lakh voters were added after the Lok Sabha elections 2024, in 118 seats of Maharashtra, out of which the BJP won 102. It makes clear that there is something wrong, somewhere.”

Earlier, within days of the Maharashtra election results, a Congress delegation expressed concerns before the EC regarding potential anomalies in the updating of electoral rolls and a post-poll surge in voter turnout during the Maharashtra elections.

The delegation had highlighted the deletion of lakhs of voters from the electoral rolls in Maharashtra. It had also claimed that 47 lakh new additions had been made since the Lok Sabha elections.