Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis refuted allegations levelled by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday, alleging irregularities in the Maharashtra state voters list by saying that such claims stem from the fear of imminent defeat facing the Congress in the Delhi assembly polls.

“Rahul Gandhi has only provided covering fire after sensing a huge defeat for the Congress in the Delhi assembly elections,” Fadnavis told media persons in Nagpur on Friday.

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Fadnavis also tweeted his reaction to Rahul’s allegations on X which read, “When the same joke is repeated again and again, it does not make you laugh (Jab ek hee chutkula bar bar sunaya jaye to uspar hansa nahi karte)”. Fadnavis tweeted this statement on X, tagging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s X handle.

While speaking to media persons in Nagpur on Friday, Fadnavis also said that Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, needs to introspect or else, there will be no revival of the Congress.

Fadnavis made these statements shortly after three three opposition party leaders comprising Sharad Pawar-led NCP MP Supriya Sule, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut and Leader of the Opposition as well as Congress MP Rahul Gandhi asked the Election Commission to answer tree important questions at a press conference held in the Lok Sabha on Friday, after giving statistics about the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections and alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra voters list.

Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of the change in the process of changing the Election Commissioner just before the Lok Sabha elections. “The Election Commission Commissioners were appointed by a committee. It included the Chief Justice, the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister. It was changed by the government. The Chief Justice was removed from it and a BJP person was inducted into that committee. Before the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commissioner was removed and a new Commissioner was appointed there,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“In the five years from the assembly elections 2019 to the Lok Sabha elections 2024, 32 lakh new voters were included in the lists. But in the five months from the Lok Sabha elections 2024 to the Maharashtra assembly elections 2024, 39 lakh new voters were included.

“How are the voters included in the five months after the Lok Sabha elections more than the voters in the previous five years? Who are these 39 lakh voters? There are 39 lakh voters in the entire Himachal Pradesh and the same number of new voters have been included in voter lists in Maharashtra,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“How can the total number of registered voters in Maharashtra be more than the total population of Maharashtra? According to government data, Maharashtra’s total population is 9.54 crore, but according to the Election Commission, there are more voters in Maharashtra, which is 9.7 crore. The number of voters is more than the population according to the Election Commission. Therefore, these voters have suddenly been created in Maharashtra,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“The number of voters who voted for the opposition parties in Maharashtra has not decreased at all during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Congress got 1.36 lakh votes in the Kamthi assembly constituency in the Lok Sabha. We got 1.34 lakh votes there in the Assembly. This has not made much difference, but during this period, 35 thousand new voters have been included in this constituency. On the other hand, BJP got 1.9 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha. They got 1.75 lakh votes in the assembly. Most of these voters came from those 35,000 newly included voters. This is not just in one constituency.

“This is seen in many constituencies. This has been seen in Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP constituencies. Our votes in Maharashtra have not decreased, but the BJP’s votes increased,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul demanded that the Election Commission must provide voter lists. “We have been telling the Election Commission about this. We want voter lists in the state of Maharashtra. We want names, addresses and photos of voters in it. We want voter lists from the Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra assembly elections. We want to see who these new voters are.

“Many voters’ names were deleted. Many voters’ names were included from one booth to another. Most of these voters were from Dalits, tribals and minority groups. We want to understand this,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“We have repeatedly requested the Election Commission for this information but they have not replied to us. There is something dark about this, so they are not replying. I am not making any allegations, I have merely presented the data here,” Rahul Gandhi said, at the press conference.