Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations regarding discrepancies in the state's voter list. Pawar stated that Gandhi should conduct his own investigation instead of making accusations.
"Tell him to do his own probe and appoint his own team to investigate it. Tomorrow, Delhi election results will be announced and after losing, people will start blaming... There is no point in such things... It's the people who decide about the results. In a democracy, people vote and elect their leaders but some people try to create misunderstandings. They make such statements to motivate their party workers," Dy CM said as quoted by ANI.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi, along with Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Supriya Sule of the NCP-SCP, raised concerns about a surge in new voters in Maharashtra. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, he claimed that 39 lakh voters were added to the state's electoral rolls within five months of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"In five years between the 2019 Vidhan Sabha and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 32 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra. However, in just five months between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, 39 lakh new voters were added. Who are these people?" Gandhi asked.
He also questioned why the number of registered voters in Maharashtra exceeded the state's total adult population. "We have studied the voter lists and voting patterns in detail. Our team has found several irregularities. The number of voters supporting Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP-SCP has not decreased between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections," he said.
Gandhi demanded access to voter lists from both elections. "We have been telling the Election Commission that we are finding anomalies. We need the voter list with names and addresses for both the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections to understand who these new voters are," he said.
The Election Commission responded in a post on X, saying political parties are priority stakeholders. "The voters are the prime stakeholders. The Commission deeply values views, suggestions, and questions from political parties. A written response with full factual and procedural details, uniformly adopted across the country, will be provided," the post stated.