Rahul Gandhi / Baseless allegations... EC's response to Rahul's claims regarding Maharashtra elections

Rahul Gandhi: The Election Commission has once again reacted sharply to the allegations of "match fixing" leveled by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Commission has clarified that the elections were conducted with complete transparency and under the legal process and raising questions on them is beyond facts.

Reiterated statement of Election Commission

After the recent allegations of Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission reiterated its earlier comment and said that the process of voter list, voting and counting was completed in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Electoral Registration Rules, 1960 of India. The Commission clarified that there is no evidence of irregularity at any level.

Factual answer on voting in the last two hours

The Congress had claimed that an unusually high number of 65 lakh votes were cast in the last two hours of voting, which it termed as "suspicious". On this, the Commission said that a total of 6.40 crore voters cast their votes from 7 am to 6 pm. At this average, about 58 lakh votes were recorded every hour, so it was possible that 116 lakh votes would have been cast in the last two hours. Congress's figure is even less than the average, so it is irrational to call it abnormal.

Presence of agents in the voting process

The commission also clarified that agents appointed by all candidates and parties were present at every polling station. Neither the Congress nor its authorized representatives lodged any objection before the returning officer or observers at any stage during or after the voting.

Clarification was also given on the voter list

On the questions raised on the transparency of the voter list, the commission said that the final voter list of Maharashtra, which had about 9.77 crore voters, was made available to all political parties on time. Only 89 appeals against this list were lodged with the District Magistrates and one appeal with the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, which are negligible in number.