Sat Jan 25 13:44:41 UTC 2025: ## Congress Accuses Election Commission of Bias in Maharashtra Assembly Election
**Mumbai, January 25, 2025** – The Congress party today accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of bias in favor of the BJP alliance during the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections, citing alleged discrepancies in voter lists. On National Voters’ Day, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Praveen Chakravarty, head of the All India Professionals’ Congress, held a press conference highlighting a purported 4.8 million increase in Maharashtra’s voter base in just six months following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This, they argued, is significantly higher than the 3.2 million increase over the five years between the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Chakravarty further pointed to inconsistencies between the ECI’s reported 97 million voters and the Health Ministry’s figure of 95.4 million for the adult population. He cited specific instances, such as Loni village in Shirdi where 5,000 voters were registered at a single address, and alleged that 132 constituencies saw an addition of 20,000 to 25,000 new voters each after the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress alleges the ECI has refused to provide data despite repeated requests.
Chavan stated that approximately 100 defeated candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance have filed petitions in various courts challenging the voter list irregularities. He emphasized that these discrepancies undermine public trust in the electoral process and represent a threat to the integrity of Indian democracy.
The ECI has previously dismissed similar Congress claims as misleading and baseless. The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer has also denied any unusual surge in voter numbers. The INDIA bloc intends to file a petition with the Supreme Court regarding alleged EVM manipulation. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has further condemned the ECI, using strong language against the Commission.
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