Rahul Gandhi Questions ECI Over Maharashtra’s 9.7 Crore Votes Despite 9.4 Crore Adult Population
New Delhi, 7th February 2025: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday raised concerns regarding the Maharashtra Assembly election results, questioning the Election Commission of India (ECI) about how 9.7 crore votes were cast despite the state having an adult population of only 9.4 crore.
“We are not accusing the ECI of wrongdoing but we seek the final voter list. Ensuring transparency is your duty. Government data indicates that Maharashtra’s eligible voter population is 9.54 crore, yet 9.7 crore people participated in the elections. How is that possible?” Gandhi questioned.
He pointed out discrepancies in voter additions, stating, “Between the 2019 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 32 lakh voters were added. However, between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2024, this number surged to 39 lakh within just five months. As Leader of the Opposition, I raised this issue in Parliament, but the Election Commission has yet to respond.”
Addressing the concerns, the Election Commission stated that it would provide a detailed written response to the facts sought by Rahul Gandhi. “The ECI regards political parties as key stakeholders, with voters being the foremost priority. The Commission deeply values the inputs, concerns, and inquiries from political parties and will respond in writing with a comprehensive factual and procedural overview applied uniformly nationwide,” the ECI clarified via a post on social media platform X.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had raised two primary concerns in Parliament: first, that Maharashtra’s voter rolls saw an addition of 70 lakh new voters within five months between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections; and second, that 7,000 voters were registered under a single building’s address in Shirdi.
On November 29, six days after the Assembly election results were declared, the Congress formally approached the Election Commission, expressing alarm over what it termed a “shocking” 13% rise in the state’s electorate since the Lok Sabha elections. The party requested access to the raw data for the 39 lakh newly added voters.
In response, the ECI replied on December 24, stating that the actual figures showed 48,81,620 new additions and 8,00,391 deletions, resulting in a net increase of 40,81,229 voters from the Lok Sabha elections to the Assembly polls. The Commission explained that following amendments to the Representation of the People Act, four qualifying dates exist for voter registration: January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. The additions included 8,72,094 voters aged 18-19 and 17,74,514 voters from the 20-29 age group.
“Overall, 26,46,608 young voters between the ages of 18 and 29 were registered out of the total 40,81,229 additions. This reflects a positive trend in youth participation, which is essential for the future of democracy. The increase in voter registration in a large state like Maharashtra does not indicate any irregular pattern,” the ECI stated in its response.
