‘Completely absurd’: EC official on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘poll panel compromised’ allegation

“After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised, is completely absurd,” the source further said.

Speaking during his visit to the United States on Sunday, Gandhi had alleged that the EC had been compromised and that there was “something very wrong” with the system. He had also alleged that more people had voted in the Maharashtra Assembly elections held last year than the state’s adult population.

EC sources said that polling for the Maharashtra Assembly elections had been held in front of the polling agents of candidates, and none of the Congress candidates or their agents had raised any substantiated allegations at the time.

According to EC sources, a total of 6.40 crore electors reached the polling stations from 7 am to 6 pm to vote, meaning an average of 58 lakh votes per hour. With that trend, nearly 116 lakh voters could have voted in the last two hours.

The EC sources added that the political parties, including the Congress, were given copies of the electoral roll. For the 9.77 crore total electors, only 89 appeals were filed with the first appellate authority and only one before the second appellate authority. The Congress had appointed 27,099 booth-level agents for the process as well, EC sources said, adding that the unsubstantiated allegations on the electoral roll of Maharashtra were “an affront to the rule of law”.

The Congress had raised questions over the electoral roll of Maharashtra soon after the Assembly elections in the state in November. Writing to the EC, the party alleged that there had been a shocking increase in the number of electors from the Lok Sabha to the Assembly elections. In its response to the party, the EC had written on December 24 that there had been a net addition of 40.81 lakh voters, of which 8.72 lakh were those in the 18-19 years age group.