Taking exception to Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks about poll process in the country, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday rejected his allegations, saying any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards law, but also brings disrepute to the thousands of representatives appointed by their own political party and demotivates lakhs of election staff who work untiringly and transparently during elections.
“After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised is completely absurd. The entire nation is aware that each election process including the preparation of electoral rolls, polling and counting etc. are all held by Government staff and that too in the presence of authorised representatives formally appointed by Political Parties/ Candidates from polling station upto constituency level,†the ECI said.
On Monday, Rahul alleged in Boston, US, that, in simple terms, more people voted in the Maharashtra Assembly election than there were adults in the state. “The Election Commission gave us a voting figure for 1730hrs, and between 1730hrs and 1930 hrs, 65 lakh voters voted. This is physically impossible. For a voter to vote, it takes approximately three minutes and, if you do the math, it would mean that there were lines of voters till 0200hrsbut this did not happen,†he had said.
The poll body further stated that all Indian elections are held as per Law. The scale and accuracy with which elections are held in India are widely acclaimed across the world.
Rejecting the claims, the EC underlined that during Assembly Elections in Maharashtra 6,40,87,588 electors, who reached the polling station from 7 am to 6 pm, voted. About 58 lakh votes were polled per hour on an average. Going by these average trends, nearly 116 Lakh voters could have voted in last two hours.
“Therefore, casting of 65 lakhs votes by electors in two hours is much below the average hourly voting trends. 2. Further, in every polling booth, the voting progressed in front of the polling agents formally appointed by candidates/political parties. INC’s nominated candidates or their authorized agents have not raised any substantiated allegations with regards to any kind of abnormal voting at the time of scrutiny before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Observers on the next day,†the EC said in a statement.
The poll body further stated that electoral rolls in India including Maharashtra are prepared as per the Representation of People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. As per law, either just before the elections and/or once every year, Special Summary Revision of the Electoral Rolls is conducted and a final copy of the Electoral Rolls is handed over to all the National/State political parties, including Indian National Congress (INC).
“After the finalisation of these Electoral Rolls during Maharashtra elections, as against 9,77,90,752 Electors, only a total of 89 appeals were filed before the 1st appellate authority (DM) and only first appeal was filed before the Second appellate authority (CEO). Therefore, it is amply clear that there was no grievance of INC or any other political parties before the conduct of Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2024,†it said
During the revision of Electoral Rolls, for 1,00,427 Polling Booths, along with 97,325 Booth Level Officers appointed by the EROs, 1,03,727 Booth Level Agents were also appointed by all Political Parties, including 27,099 by INC. Therefore, these unsubstantiated allegations raised against the Electoral Rolls of Maharashtra are affront to the rule of law. 6. The Election Commission had brought out all these facts in its reply to INC on 24th December 2024 itself which is available on ECI’s website. It appears that all these facts are completely being ignored while raising such issues again and again,†it added.
