'Vote theft' in over 27 seats in 2023 MP assembly polls: Congress; BJP rejects claim

Bhopal, Aug 19 (PTI) Congress leader Umang Singhar on Tuesday alleged "votes were stolen" in more than 27 seats in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was given "unethical benefit".

The BJP hit back and termed the Congress allegations as baseless and misleading, questioning, with a reference to Ramayana character Kumbhakarn, why is the opposition party waking up from slumber 20 months after the assembly election results.

Talking to reporters here, Singhar claimed, through data-based graphics and figures, that lakhs of voters were added a few months before the elections and in segments where Congress candidates lost by a narrow margin, the elector increase was found to be much higher than the gap of defeat.

"Vote theft took place in more than 27 assembly seats in the state and this was done to give unethical benefit to the BJP," insisted the Leader of Opposition in the assembly.

Madhya Pradesh has 230 assembly seats and the BJP received an overwhelming majority in the last polls.

Singhar claimed that in seven months between January 5 and August 2, 2023, the total number of voters in Madhya Pradesh increased by about 4.64 lakh, while in just two months between August 2 and October 4, there was an unexpected rise of 16.05 lakh electors.

"This means 26,000 voters were added every day (between August 2-October 4)," the Opposition MLA said.

Polling in the state took place on November 17, 2023.

The Leader of Opposition stated, "The revelations of vote theft by (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi have shaken the country. Madhya Pradesh is also a big victim of this well-planned electoral conspiracy." He alleged there were large-scale irregularities in the voter list, including abnormal increase in the number of electors voters, and duplicate entries.

Singhar said the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission had issued an order on December 2, 2022, directing the removal of 8,51,564 fake/duplicate entries in the voter list but no district officer made the deletion report public.

He claimed the relevant data was not made available even through the Right to Information route.

The Congress MLA demanded that the Election Commission freeze the final voter list, get signatures of all political parties on the published roll and avoid any changes till the completion of elections.

Singhar asked the EC to release complete data on voters in 'machine-readable format' and provide CVS (file format) instead of PDF images so that independent scrutiny of the list can be done.

However, state minister Vishwas Sarang said whether it is Rahul Gandhi or Singhar, Congress leaders are just misleading the country with baseless allegations without providing data and facts.

"Why is the Congress's Kumbhkarni sleep breaking 20 months after the assembly elections. The first theft of votes in independent India was done by Jawaharlal Nehru himself to become Prime Minister," the BJP minister alleged.

He questioned that if the Congress suspected irregularities in the voter list, why did it not complain to the Election Commission within the given time limit? Minister Sarang explained, "According to law, a complaint or challenge can be made within 45 days of the declaration of election results." He alleged the Congress falsely invokes the Constitution and it neither follows constitutional arrangements nor respects institutions.

The minister pointed out there is a clear legal provision for objections/corrections related to the voter list and under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every citizen and political party can register an objection if they come across any irregularities.

"Through his press conference, Singhar has tried to join Rahul Gandhi's politics of lies and deceit," the minister asserted, hitting back at the Congress MLA.

In the 2023 assembly polls, the BJP bagged 163 seats, while the Congress managed to win just 66. PTI MAS RSY