New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday came out with a point-by-point rebuttal to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s “baseless” and “unwarranted” claims over Maharashtra Assembly elections and the alleged discrepancy in voters list.

The EC’s rebuttal comes a day after Rahul Gandhi, while being on foreign soil, stated that the poll body was compromised and cited an example of the Maharashtra elections to buttress his claims.

He questioned the EC’s “reasoning” of 65 lakh votes being cast in the last two hours of polling and termed it “physically impossible.”

The EC on Tuesday shared facts and data pertaining to Maharashtra elections, to deflate and debunk Congress MP’s claims.

About 58 lakh voters polled per hour

The EC informed that during the Maharashtra Assembly Elections, a total of 6,40,87,588 electors reached the polling station from 7 am to 6 pm and cast their votes. About 58 lakh votes were polled per hour, on average.

Further, rejecting his claims of 65 lakh votes in the last two hours as an “impossible task”, it said, “Going by these average trends, nearly 116 Lakh voters could have voted in last two hours. Therefore, casting of 65 lakhs votes by electors in two hours is much below the average hourly voting trends,” it said.

INC candidates/agents didn’t raise any alarm

The EC further informed that the polling progressed in every polling booth, in front of the polling agents, formally appointed by candidates/political parties.

“Congress’s nominated candidates or their authorised agents didn’t raise any substantiated allegations with regards to any kind of abnormal voting at the time of scrutiny before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Observers on the next day,” it said.

Electoral rolls as per established norms

Dismissing Congress’s charges on electoral rolls, the poll body said that the voters list in the country, including Maharashtra, was prepared as per the Representation of People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

“As per law, either just before the elections and/or once every year, Special Summary Revision of the Electoral Rolls is conducted and a final copy of the Electoral Rolls is handed over to all the national/state political parties, including Indian National Congress (INC),” it added.

Only 89 appeals against 9 crore voters

The EC states that after finalisation of Electoral Rolls during Maharashtra elections, as against 9,77,90,752 electors, only a total of 89 appeals were filed before the 1st appellate authority (DM), and only 1 appeal was filed before the 2nd appellate authority (CEO).

“It therefore makes it clear that there was no grievance of the INC or any other political parties before the conduct of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2024,” it said.

EC officials explained that Congress ignored facts

The Election Commission also said that it had brought out all these facts in its reply to the INC on December 24, 2024, which is available on ECI’s website. It appears that all these facts are being completely ignored while raising such issues again and again.

“During the revision of Electoral Rolls, for 1,00,427 polling booths, along with 97,325 Booth Level Officers appointed by the EROs, 1,03,727 Booth Level Agents were also appointed by all political parties, including 27,099 by the INC. Therefore, these unsubstantiated allegations raised against the Electoral Rolls of Maharashtra are an affront to the rule of law,” the EC said in a statement.

Besides refuting the charges, the poll body also slammed the Congress party for spreading misinformation and called it an affront and insult to the rule of law.

“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 said.

Taking strong exception to Rahul’s ‘EC compromised’ remarks, it said that such remarks are aimed at defaming the poll body, which is completely absurd.