‘Good first step’: Rahul on report EC will publish Maharashtra poll voter rolls; asks poll body to specify ‘exact date’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked the Election Commission to specify the exact date by which it will furnish the voter rolls of Maharashtra and Haryana legislative elections.This comes after the poll body reportedly decided to share electoral roll data for Haryana and Maharashtra from 2009 to 2024.In a social media post on X, Rahul welcomed EC’s decision and said, “Good first step taken by EC to hand over voter rolls.”“Can the EC please announce the exact date by which this data will be handed over in a digital, machine-readable format?” he asked.The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha also shared the screenshot of a media report that claimed that the EC has cleared the way for sharing the electoral-roll data for Haryana and Maharashtra from 2009 to 2024, following an assurance it gave to the Delhi high court earlier in the year.This comes a day after Rahul, in an article, outlined a “step-by-step manipulation” of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.“My article shows how this happened, step by step: Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission. Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll. Step 3: Inflate voter turnout. Step 4: Target the bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win. Step 5: Hide the evidence,” Gandhi wrote in a post on X.“It’s not hard to see why the BJP was so desperate in Maharashtra. But rigging is like match-fixing — the side that cheats might win the game, but damages institutions and destroys public faith in the result. All concerned Indians must see the evidence. Judge for themselves. Demand answers,” Gandhi had said.“Because the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing,” the Leader of the Opposition claimed in his post.Later, the poll body issued a statement calling Rahul’s allegations of “match-fixing” in the electoral process “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 up to constituency level,” EC said.“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,” it added.“After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised, is completely absurd,” the statement by ECI read.In the 2024 assembly elections, the Mahayuti coalition of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP won 235 of the 288 seats, with BJP securing 132 alone. Shinde’s Sena secured 57 seats and Ajit Pawar’s NCP got 41 seats.On the other hand, it was a disappointing show by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which was hoping for a grand comeback. Uddhav’s Sena got 20 seats, Congress 16 and Sharad Pawar’s NCP secured 10 seats.