The Congress on Friday filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging serious and grave inconsistencies in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the recently concluded assembly elections in Maharashtra.

The party has urged the poll panel for an in-person hearing to raise these issues in detail.

In a memorandum submitted to the ECI, the Congress said: “These glaring inconsistencies which strike at the very root of a transparent, free and fair electoral system are not based on any biased motives or far-fetched presumptions but have been extracted from the information made publicly available by this Commission.”

One among the issues raised in the complaint by the party was alleged unprecedented increase in voter percentage.

“Several glaring discrepancies have been reported in the voter turnout data for during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. There has been an inexplicable and an unprecedented increase in voter percentages from the seemingly provisional percentage declared by this Commission at 5:00 pm and the final voter percentage declared at 11:30 pm on the day of polling,” it said.

The Congress claimed as per the data made available by the Commission, the polling percentage across Maharashtra at 5:00 pm was 58.22 per cent and was later reported to be 65.02 per cent as of 11:30 pm on the same day.

Further, there was another increase in the voting percentage, ultimately being reported as 66.05 per cent, several hours prior to counting, it alleged.

Urging the EC for granting an urgent in-person hearing to raise all the issues in detail, the Congress said there are several other constituency specific issues which it would like to raise before it .

Pointing out that the hallmark of modern-day democracies is the fairness and transparency with which elections are conducted in a state, the party said, “Historically, this Commission has been steadfast in its commitment towards ensuring that the electoral process, irrespective of the tier of the said election, is conducted in consonance with the principles of free and fair elections and the doctrine of level playing field.”