Election Commission invites Congress team over Maharashtra result concerns on Dec 3

The Election Commission invited a Congress delegation on December 3 to address its concerns over what the party described as ‘serious inconsistencies’ in the Maharashtra Assembly election results, which resulted in the BJP-led Mahayuti’s massive victory.
The Election Commission told the Congress that all poll procedures followed in Maharashtra during the counting of votes were transparent and assured the party that it would review all its legitimate concerns and give a written response to the party.
Responding to the issue regarding the voter turnout data, the poll body asserted that there was no discrepancy in it and the data was available with all candidates polling station-wise and is verifiable.
The gap in the 5 pm polling data and the final voter turnout was due to procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform multiple statutory duties near the close of polling before updating the voter turnout data, the Election Commission said.
As an additional disclosure measure, a press note of the poll body at around 11:45 pm was introduced during the 2024 Lok Sabha election and followed subsequently during all assembly polls thereafter, the poll body told the Congress.
On Friday, the Congress raised with the Election Commission “serious and grave inconsistencies” which it said were being revealed in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls and sought an in-person hearing to present relevant evidence.
The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was routed in the November 20 polls, managing only 46 of the 288 Assembly seats. The Congress won 16, Shiv Sena (UBT) got 20 and Sharad Pawar’s NCP secured 10. The BJP-led Mahayuti won a massive 230 seats, with the BJP getting a record 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena 57 and Ajit Pawar-led NCP 41.
The Congress has alleged that EVMs had been rigged in Maharashtra and demanded a return of the paper ballots. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also repeated the same claims during the CWC meeting on Friday.
Despite the Congress’s claims, the Election Commission has consistently rejected the allegations and defended the use of EVMs. The poll body said EVMs are secure, with multiple layers of verification and tamper-proof mechanisms in place, including the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). It also allows political parties to test and inspect the machines before elections.