Maharashtra govt not legitimately elected, alleges Cong; questions `addition' in voters list

Mumbai, Jan 25 (PTI) Opposition Congress on Saturday alleged that the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra was "not legitimately elected" and there was a suspicious addition of voters before the November 2024 assembly polls.

Congress' data analytics department chairperson Praveen Chakravarty and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan made the allegations at a press conference.

"The government in Maharashtra is not legitimately elected through a fair electoral process. We say this with full responsibility as India's oldest political party and the only political party that fought for India's freedom and helped establish India as a constitutional republic," Chakravarty said.

There has been significant manipulation of results in the assembly elections in Maharashtra, he claimed.

"Forty-eight lakh new voters were added in the electoral rolls in the assembly elections after the Lok Sabha polls, while only 32 lakh voters had been added before the 2019 assembly polls," he said.

"Somehow all these voters seem to have magically voted for one alliance which is the Mahayuti. Does this sound logical...Is this a miraculous coincidence? Is this not strange?" Chakravarty asked.

Compared to the Lok Sabha elections, the Mahayuti received 72 lakh more votes in the assembly polls, he claimed.

Only 24 lakh voters that voted for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) shifted away. But the Mahayuti got 72 lakh more votes, he said.

The MVA bagged 30 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while in the assembly elections held in November, the ruling Mahayuti won 230 of the 288 seats, decisively defeating the opposition MVA.

The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP got 41 seats.

There is a clear pattern, Chakravarty said, claiming that in 132 constituencies 25,000 or more voters were added just before the state polls.

Mahayuti won 112, nearly 90 per cent of the 132 constituencies, whereas it was leading in only 62 of these assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections held six months earlier, Chakravarty claimed.

According to the central government figures, the adult population in Maharashtra is 9.54 crore, but the number of voters is 9.7 crore , he said.

"Today is not the voters' but cheaters' day. The Election Commissioner and Election Commission have failed in their constitutional duty and the oath they took to conduct free and fair elections.

"We do not accept the verdict of Maharashtra. We want the Election Commissioner and Election Commission of India to answer these questions," he said.

Why doesn't the Election Commission make the voters' list of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha public in one place in a consolidated manner for the people to analyse, Chakravarty asked.

The Election Commission must explain this "big and suspicious" increase in the voters and provide documentary proof of new voters, the Congress functionary said.

Prithviraj Chavan said more than 100 defeated candidates of the MVA have filed petitions before the Election Commission of India.

"Our objection is that house-to-house verification has not happened while enrolling voters. The Mahayuti's victory is due to new voters," Chavan said.

The new voters should be probed, he added.

Chavan also demanded a white paper on the MoUs signed at Davos. According to the state government, 61 MoUs were signed during the World Economic Forum entailing investment of Rs 15.70 lakh crore. PTI PR NP KRK

Source: PTI