3 weeks Ago By Nisha Nambiar
Pune: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has firmly rejected allegations of irregularities in Maharashtra's electoral rolls published in early Jan, saying that only 89 appeals for changes with the district election office and only one with the chief electoral office were filed against 9.7 crore registered voters. This negligible number contradicts the claims made by opposition parties in parliament's winter session, an ECI official told TOI on Thursday.
"We received 89 first appeals that were cleared at the district level, and only one second appeal came up to the chief electoral office in Maharashtra." The controversy began after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi demanded a discussion in the Lok Sabha, alleging improper addition of more than 30 lakh voters between 2019 and 2024 in Maharashtra and duplication of elector photo identity card (EPIC) numbers. TMC and AAP made similar allegations about Delhi's voter list.
The poll panel has previously said that duplication of EPIC numbers does not necessarily indicate duplicate or fake voters. It has also released data on the total electors and the booth-level agents from political parties in the country. "With 13,857,359 agents across India, only 90 appeals for changes in the electoral rolls were filed in Maharashtra.
Therefore, there is no option but to accept the voter list published after the completion of special summary revision in Jan 2025 as undisputed," an ECI source said. Senior ECI officials emphasised that the Representation of People Act 1950, which offers mechanisms to correct electoral roll entries, has been in place since Sept 20, 1961. With Bihar and a few other states going to poll in the coming months, opposition parties may continue raising these concerns, but ECI is steadfast in its position, sources said.
While electoral rolls undergo updates throughout the year, the election commission conducts an annual special summary revision (SSR) exercise, specifically between Oct and Dec, with the final revised rolls published in Jan. For states and union territories scheduled for elections, additional SSR drives are conducted before the polling dates. About the most recent SSR 2025, the commission issued the schedule on Aug 7, 2024, and published the final rolls between Jan 6 and 10, 2025.
As per data, there are 99 crore registered voters in the country..
