PoliticsElectoral rolls
Congress takes its SIR attack to Mumbai, alleges 40 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra
C P Joshi demanded the Election Commission's meeting minutes and deletion data, as Jairam Ramesh accused it of hiding the name of the software behind the roll revision.
Key points
- Varsha Gaikwad alleged about 40 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
- C P Joshi asked the Election Commission to publish its meeting minutes, legal approvals and deleted-voter details.
- Jairam Ramesh said the Commission refused under RTI to name the software used to flag roll errors.
The Congress carried its campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to Mumbai on Sunday, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of breaking the rules and claiming that around 40 lakh voters had been added to Maharashtra’s rolls in the months between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
At a press conference under the party’s “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” banner, senior leader C P Joshi demanded that the Election Commission publish the minutes of its meetings, the legal approvals behind its decisions and details of every voter deleted. He said Forms 6, 7 and 8, used to add, object to and correct entries, had been changed in breach of the rules, and that powers of electoral registration officers had been handed to the Commission’s Director General for IT, Seema Khanna. He also alleged that nearly 47 lakh names had been deleted in Bihar and more than 90 lakh in West Bengal.
Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad said the 40 lakh additions came within five to six months, about 400 voters for every polling booth, and that lakhs had been left out of Mumbai’s rolls under the SIR. She said the BJP-led Mahayuti had come to power through irregularities.
The Commission has said all three commissioners approved the SIR decisions unanimously, and that differing views are a normal part of any institution’s deliberations.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the Commission of refusing, in reply to a Right to Information request, to name or give the version of the software used to flag errors in the rolls, citing commercial confidence and trade secrets. He asked why it had come to light through Tata Consultancy Services’ own disclosures that the company built the ECINET platform, and whether artificial intelligence was used.
“The public knows that massive manipulation has taken place. Gyanesh Kumar must go. The SIR must be suspended forthwith,” Ramesh wrote on X.
The INDIA bloc’s rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan is on 1 November.