NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has raised concerns over alleged discrepancies in the voter list for Maharashtra's recent assembly elections, claiming that over 39 lakh new voters were added in just five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

Addressing a press conference at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Friday, Gandhi, accompanied by NCP-Sharad Pawar MP Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut, questioned the integrity of the electoral process. Gandhi pointed out that Maharashtra's adult population was 9.54 crore, yet the voter population in the assembly elections was 9.7 crore. He asked why there were more registered voters in the 2024 assembly elections than the entire adult population of the state.

Gandhi demanded that the Election Commission provide centralized data on the voter list to opposition parties for scrutiny. He stated that if their request was not met, they would approach the courts. The opposition parties have been calling for access to the data to investigate possible irregularities in the electoral process.

In response, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed Gandhi's allegations, suggesting that the Congress leader was attempting to deflect attention from his party's electoral losses. Fadnavis urged Gandhi to introspect on his defeat rather than making unsubstantiated claims.

The Election Commission has yet to respond to the opposition's demands but has previously stated that it values the views and suggestions of political parties and will respond with a comprehensive factual and procedural matrix uniformly applied across the country.