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Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske on Friday criticised Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi for his claims of discrepancies in the Maharashtra voter list, calling his statements "false and childish".
Mhaske said that LoP had given false data, further stating that there was no need to pay attention to his childish statements. "He is giving all false data. As the population is increasing, 18-year-old voters are also increasing. Why did they not speak up at the time of the Lok Sabha elections? Rahul Gandhi has been rejected by Maharashtra. There is no need to pay attention to his childish statements..." Mhaske said speaking to ANI. This comes after Rahul Gandhi raised concerns over the surge in new voters, particularly between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra, highlighting that 39 lakh new voters were added in just five months after the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a press conference at the Constitution Club in Delhi alongside Maha Vikas Aghadi partners Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Supriya Sule of the NCP-SCP, Rahul Gandhi also questioned discrepancies in voter registration figures, claiming that the number of registered voters exceeded Maharashtra's total adult population. "We want to bring to the notice of the people of India some information that we have found regarding the Maharashtra elections. We have studied in detail the voter lists, and the voting pattern and we have a team working on this for some time. There are many irregularities that we have found," Gandhi said. "In five years between Vidhan Sabha 2019 and Lok Sabha 2024 elections, 32 lakh voters were added to the electoral rolls in Maharashtra. However, in a period of five months between Lok Sabha 2024 and Vidhan Sabha 2024, 39 lakh new voters were added in Maharashtra. The question is why more voters were added in five months after the Lok Sabha elections than are being added in five years prior. Who are these 39 lakh people?" Gandhi said. He also questioned why there were more registered voters in Maharashtra than the entire voting population of the state. Rahul Gandhi also highlighted that the number of voters who voted for these three parties (Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SCP) has not reduced within Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Rahul Gandhi demanded the voter list of both Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls from the Election Commission. "We have been saying to the election commission that we are finding anomalies. We need the voter list - names and addresses of the voters of Maharashtra. We need the voter list for the Lok Sabha election. We need the voter list for the Vidhan Sabha election. Because we want to understand exactly who these new additional voters are," he said. Meanwhile, the Election Commission in a post on X said, "ECI considers political parties, as priority stakeholders, of course, the voters being the prime & deeply values views, suggestions, questions coming from political parties. Commission would respond in writing with full factual &procedural matrix uniformly adopted across the country." (ANI)
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