New Delhi:

The Congress – still fuming over defeat in the Maharashtra election – submitted an “urgent memorandum” to the Election Commission Friday, asking for an in-person meeting to red-flag “certain serious and grave inconsistencies… in data related to polling and counting processes”.

In a 12-page document submitted this afternoon, the Congress also referred to doubts about voter data that were raised by former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and raised two points of concern.

The first was “arbitrary deletion of voters. and subsequent addition of over 10,000 voters in each constituency” and the second was an “inexplicable increase in voting percentages…”

Based on these points, the Congress has alleged a systemic effort to try and reduce the number of voters (and votes) “sympathetic to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (the opposition alliance, of which the Congress is a member, and which lost heavily to the BJP-led Mahayuti combine)”.

Here is a memorandum just submitted to @ECISVEEP on the Maharashtra assembly elections by Shri @NANA_PATOLE, Shri @MukulWasnik, and Shri Ramesh @chennithala

They have raised serious issues which are being discussed in the public domain. They have asked the EC for an in-person… pic.twitter.com/K4zfx5tjhF

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 29, 2024

The Congress has urged the EC to conduct a thorough investigation into its complaints.

Congress’ Complaints To EC

Among the claims made in its submission to the EC, the Congress said the “arbitrary inclusion/deletion of voter records” led to an “unprecedented increase of (around) 47 lakh voters being added to the electoral roll from between July 2024 and November 2024”.

“It is significant to note that out of the 50 Assembly seats where there was an average increase of 50,000 voters, the ruling regime and its allies secured victory from 47…” the Congress said.

The Congress submitted alleged manipulation of voter list at the Tuljapur seat as an example, noting “fake Aadhaar cards were created by individuals with differing photos and names” to cast illegal votes.

The Tuljapur seat – held by the Congress’ Madhukarrao Chavan from 1999 to 2014 – was won by the BJP’s Ranajagjitsinha Patil by 37,000 votes. This is the first time the BJP has ever won this seat.

On the second red-flag – i.e., discrepancies in voter turnout data – the Congress pointed out the EC’s average voter turnout at 5 pm was 58.22 per cent, and that this jumped to 65.02 per cent by 11.30 pm.

“Further, there was another increase in voting percentage, ultimately being reported as 66.05 per cent, several hours prior to counting. From a common sense viewpoint, over 70 lakh votes being cast in the closing hour of polling is implausible and unheard of in electoral history…” the Congress reasoned.

“Even assuming time taken by one individual to cast their vote is two minutes… it is impossible for the Election Commission to have even come out with the final data by 11.30 pm, considering that 76 lakh voters would have exercised their franchise within the last hour of polling…”

“It is submitted,” the Congress’ letter concluded, “that the said discrepancies raise several questions about the manner in which the election was conducted across Maharashtra.”

Congress’ Complaints About Haryana Loss

Continuing claims about voter fraud, the slow rate at which data is published (on the EC’s website) on counting day, and the credibility of EVMs, or electronic voting machines, made headlines earlier this month too, after the Congress complained about the Haryana poll result.

Exit polls had expected the party to claim a convincing win and the day began well, with the Congress surging into an early big lead. However, as counting continued the BJP scripted a comeback and, eventually, a comfortable win to claim a historic third term in the state.

A furious Congress refused to accept the verdict, insisting EVMs had been hacked and raising questions about alleged delays in the Election Commission publishing voting data online.

EC’s Response To Earlier Congress Complaint

On complaints about the Haryana result, the EC had hit back hard, criticising the Congress for making “baseless allegations… when faced with inconvenient electoral outcomes”, and warning it, and other parties, against “unfounded and sensational complaints” during voting and counting processes.

READ | “Haryana Electoral Process Flawless”: EC Hits Back At Congress

BJP Slams Congress

The Congress’ complaints about EVMs and potential voter fraud, meanwhile, have been picked up and trashed by the BJP. On Thursday the winning party pointed out that if its rival’s claim about faulty EVMs are true, then the results of elections they had won should be questioned too.

READ | “If They Lose, They Cry. But If They Win…”: BJP Mocks Congress On EVMs

“If they lose, they start crying about EVMs. And, if they win, the Congress wins… It is not the EVM, it is the Congress’ intentions that are bad!” the BJP said in a Hindi post on X.

READ | “Jharkhand Election Fair But If We…”: D Fadnavis On EVM Moans

In the final round of elections for 2024, the Congress-led INDIA bloc retained power in Jharkhand, thanks largely to Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. But the national party was thumped in Maharashtra, with the BJP leading its allies to a landslide win.

READ | Priyanka Gandhi Takes Oath As MP Holding Copy Of Constitution

The Congress did, however, manage to retain the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat; senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a sensational electoral debut from Kerala.

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New Delhi:

Voting for the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election may be over – the single-phase poll was held Wednesday – but verbal jousting betwixt the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi rumbles on, with each hotly disputing last night’s exit polls and proclaiming grand wins for their parties.

Five of nine exit polls studied by NDTV indicate the Mahayuti will ease to victory. Three believe neither side will gain a clear advantage. And only one exit pollster gives the MVA an outright win.

But a health warning: exit polls often get it wrong, as they did in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir; in the former the Congress was declared the winner, while the Congress-National Conference alliance was favoured in the latter. As it turned out, the BJP won Haryana and the NC (on its own) swept J&K.

READ | Mahayuti Has Edge In Maharashtra But 3 Of 9 Exit Polls Predict Hung House

However, ahead of the counting of votes on Saturday, the BJP, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party factions have come out swinging to claim victory for themselves.

Mahayuti vs MVA Over Exit Polls

For the BJP, outgoing Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis pointed triumphantly at the increased voting percentage across Maharashtra and said, “…whenever the percentage increases, it benefits the BJP and the alliance. I am confident we will benefit this time too.”

Maharashtra recorded an estimated 65 per cent turnout; the 2019 figure was 61.74 per cent. The rule of thumb is that large (or larger) voter turnouts spell trouble for the incumbent party.

Mr Fadnavis, though, argued the opposite, insisting, “Increase in voting percentage means it is in favour of the current government… it means people are supporting the current government.”

On the other side of the fence is Sena MP Sanjay Raut, ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s troubleshooter, who declared exit polls a “fraud” and insisted the MVA will win this election.

Mr Raut pointed to wrong predictions for the Haryana and J&K elections, and the April-June federal election, in which the BJP was widely expected to cross the 400-seat mark but was pegged by back by the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc, which includes the Thackeray Sena.

“Look… people do not always speak their mind (about whom they voted for). So, someone says ‘we will take a sample of 4,000 people and say this person is winning, that person is winning’… but the result is different. They said Congress would win Haryana but what happened? They said Modiji would get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha… but what happened there? You will see… we will win 160-165 seats,” he said.

It isn’t just Mr Fadnavis and Mr Raut who have been talking up their alliance’s chances.

Shinde Sena leader Shaina NC mocked her rivals, saying, “… your boat has sunk.”

The Congress’ Maharashtra unit boss, Nana Patole, is equally insistent the MVA will triumph, declaring voters are “angry with the BJP alliance” and praising the voting percentage increase.

READ | “Defeat Predicted, Will Win”: Nana Patole On Maharashtra Exit Polls

The BJP’s Milind Deora was equally convinced about a victory of the Mahayuti. “I am not into numbers… but we will definitely win”. The reason for his confidence, he told NDTV, was the alliance worked its way back from the Lok Sabha setback and “left no stones unturned” to ensure victory.

The Maharashtra Election Numbers Game

The Maharashtra Assembly has 288 seats. The majority mark is 145.

An average of exit polls gives the BJP’s coalition – which includes the Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP group led by Ajit Pawar – 150 seats. The Congress and its allies – the Sena and NCP factions of Mr Thackeray and Sharad Pawar – have been given 125.

READ | Advantage BJP+ In Maharashtra, Close Fight In Jharkhand: Exit Polls

The only outlier is Electoral Edge, which says the MVA will get 150 seats and the Mahayuti 118.

What Happened In 2019?

The 2019 Maharashtra election resulted in a thumping win for the BJP and (then undivided) Sena; the saffron party won 105 seats (down 17 from 2014) and its ally 56 (down seven).

However, two long-time allies fell out, quite spectacularly, in the following days after they failed to agree a power-sharing deal. Mr Thackeray then led his Sena into a surprise alliance with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (then also undivided) to shut out a furious BJP.

Much to the surprise of many, the ruling tripartite alliance lasted for nearly three years despite the divergent political beliefs and ideologies of the Sena and the Congress-NCP.

Eventually, it was an internal rebellion led by Mr Shinde that ousted the MVA government. He led Sena lawmakers into a deal with the BJP, forcing Mr Thackeray to resign and was named Chief Minister.

Since then, Maharashtra politics has been roiled in controversy that extended to the Supreme Court, which heard petitions and cross-petitions on disqualification of MLAs and, in the build-up to this election, pleas on which Sena and NCP faction is the ‘real’ one.

The NCP split a year later in a near-identical process that saw Ajit Pawar and lawmakers loyal to him joining the BJP-Shinde Sena, and he then became a Deputy Chief Minister.

With input from agencies

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