'Baseless': EC insiders dismiss Rahul's claim on Maharashtra poll rigging

NEW DELHI, (IANS): The political storm stirred by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over alleged irregularities in Maharashtra electoral rolls was dismissed as ‘baseless’ by an Election Commission source on Saturday.

“The Maharashtra electoral roll revision process was undertaken under the full glare of 1,03,727 Booth Level Agents appointed by the political parties, including 27,099 BLAs by the Indian National Congress (INC) themselves,” said an official source, claiming that there was no basis for the Congress leader to insinuate vitiation of the electoral process.

According to the Election Commission’s elaborate procedure on the updating of electoral rolls, any deletion and addition is done strictly as per the given framework under Article 324 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of the Electors Rules, 1960 and the extant instructions issued by the Commission from time to time

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in an article published in a national daily, alleged "match-fixing" by the BJP in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

His article ignited a political controversy, with opposition parties claiming that it exposes the alleged scale of electoral manipulation in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections and points to the Election Commission's "silence" on critical questions raised by the opposition alliance.

Election Commission sources, however, disagreed with Rahul Gandhi’s claim and questioned why no appeals were filed in case the allegations about manipulation carried any weight.

After the finalisation of these electoral rolls during the Maharashtra elections, out of 9,77,90,752 electors, only 89 appeals were filed before the first appellate authority (District Magistrate) under Section 24(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, said a source.

Only one appeal was preferred before the second appellate authority (Chief Electoral Officer) under Section 24(B) of the same Act, he said.

To counter Rahul Gandhi’s attack on alleged election rigging, BJP leader Amit Malviya on Saturday posted on social media a news clip headlined: ‘Misleading’, ‘baseless’, says EC, rejects Congress' claims on Maharashtra voter lists.

The EC said there was no irregular pattern in voter deletions in the state and rule-based process was followed with transparency in preparation of the electoral rolls, according to the clip.