New Delhi: Congress has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of being “complicit” in voter list “manipulation” and stated that it was actively pursuing a remedy through legal, political, legislative, and other means.
A group of senior Congress leaders raised concerns over the EC’s “silence regarding multiple voters having the same identification number”. They asserted that the issue was too serious to be ignored, as it posed a grave danger to the country’s electoral democracy.
“This is a grave danger to the very idea of India as an electoral democracy. This transcends political parties and politics. Babasaheb Ambedkar fought for the setting up of an independent Election Commission to precisely resist this urge of executive interference in elections. The Congress will not let this issue fade away and is actively working on seeking remedy through legal, political, legislative and any other means,” the Congress’ Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) stated in a press release.
The grand old party has constituted this eight-member committee to monitor the conduct of free and fair elections by the Election Commission of India. Senior leaders Ajay Maken, Digvijaya Singh, Abhishek Singhvi, Paveen Chakravarty, Pawan Khera, Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Nitin Raut, and Vamshi Chand Reddy are the members of the group.
The group in statement alleged that the EC was “complicit” in voter list manipulation, highlighting disturbing developments on the issue.
“The same voter ID number is being used for several voters, both from the same constituency in the same state as well as from other states. This is utterly shocking. A unique voter ID for every Indian voter is the fundamental requirement and premise of a clean voter list. Multiple voters having the same voter ID number is as bizarre as multiple vehicles bearing the same registration number. It is unheard of in any electoral democracy,” the group claimed.
The Congress also pointed to what it described as “huge irregularities and abnormalities” in voter lists during the assembly election in Maharashtra.
“It is both a logical and statistical absurdity that the Election Commission registered more new net voters (40 lakh) in five months between the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha elections than it did in the entire five-year period between 2019 and 2024 (32 lakh),” they said. Back in December 2024, the Congress party pointed out huge alleged irregularities and abnormalities in voter lists for the Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha election.
“This was substantiated through ground reports in some constituencies where thousands of voters were added to the rolls from just one building or brought in from other states. It was further shown that suspiciously most of these new voters enrolled seem to have voted only for the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra, thereby tilting the eventual outcome in their favour,” said the statement.
“The Election Commission’s stoic silence has only lent credence to its complicity in voter list manipulation. When confronted with proof of the same voter ID number used by multiple voters, the Election Commission initially responded claiming that a voter ID number may be the same across states but it is unique to a particular state,” the leaders said.
“Even that turned out to be a blatant lie as there are cases of the same ID number used by several voters in the same state and in the same constituency. After this was pointed out, there has been pin-drop silence,” they added.
The Congress leaders also argued that it was fundamental knowledge that a person who legally migrates to any state must have a unique voter ID number across the country. “The EC cannot feign ignorance or incompetence in this matter. It is a deliberate act of voter list manipulation to aid the ruling party and thwart the idea of free and fair elections,” they said.
“The cover is now blown. It is clear that the ruling BJP wins or attempts to win elections by manipulating voter lists in connivance with the Election Commission. Which is why the process of appointment of the election commissioners is so critical to the Narendra Modi government that it subverted a Supreme Court ruling to have a balanced committee to appoint election commissioners,” they concluded.
(IANS)
