Rahul Gandhi questions Maharashtra election results: 'One building in Shirdi added 7,000 voters'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday raised doubts on the outcome of the recently held Maharashtra assembly election during a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Lok Sabha.

“Almost 70 lakh new voters were added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls between Lok Sabha and assembly elections. That's as much as the population of Himachal Pradesh. In a single building in Shirdi, over 7,000 voters were added. There is something problematic in all this,” said Gandhi.

The Congress leader said he wanted to share some and information about the Maharashtra elections. "“Population of Himachal Pradesh extra has voted in Maharashtra. Interestingly, all new voters are in the constituencies where BJP has won,” he alleged.

Gandhi alleged that prior to the Lok Sabha polls,  the election commissioner was changed and two new were placed. "These are facts not things that I am changing. The entire opposition requests the data for the Maharashtra elections. And I am confident that the EC will not give us this data," he said.

Earlier, Gandhi  said there is "a serious problem" with India's election system and alleged that "something wrong" happened in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

He said that Congress and opposition have been asking for voter lists of Maharashtra and Haryana elections but the EC has refused to share it. "I want to ask you why would the Election Commission refuse to give us voters' lists of the Maharashtra election. What purpose is served by not giving us and the rest of the opposition the voter lists of the Maharashtra Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha election? Why will it damage the EC? Why are they not giving us the list?" he said.

In the Maharashtra elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti stormed to power after winning 235 out of 288 seats. The BJP alone won 132 seats, decimating the Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT).

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said earlier that there was "something fishy" about the election resultsm indirectly indicating wrongdoing.