Maharashtra has 44.61 Lakhs bogus voters claims Congress party; demands deletion

Ahead of the state elections, the Congress party has demanded that elections be conducted using the ballot paper instead of the electronic voting machines (EVM). The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has sent a list of 44.61 lakh bogus voters to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sunil Arora, demanding that these names be deleted.

A delegation of the MPCC led by general secretary Rajesh Sharma met CEC Sunil Arora, election commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sunil Chandra with their demands in Mumbai on Wednesday. The MPCC delegation also included Advocate Gauri Chhabria who is from the legal department of the Congress party.

The Chief Election Commissioner is in Mumbai to review the state preparedness ahead of an election in Maharashtra. The meeting was also held with political parties to know their issues and demands.

During the meeting, Rajesh Sharma, General Secretary of MPCC demanded that ballot paper be used for conducting the elections and also bogus voters should be deleted from the electoral rolls.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election in meeting with the CEC on February 25, 2019, MPCC had given a list of 44.61 lakh bogus voters with proof to the commission, but even to date, not all bogus voters have been deleted, said Rajesh Sharma, general secretary of MPCC. While replying to the issue, CEC Sunil Arora said that so far 2.16 lakh bogus voters have been deleted and the process to delete the remaining names is going on.

Meanwhile, while speaking to the press after the meeting, Rajesh Sharma said that there has been a delay on the part of the commission to delete these bogus names. Sharma said that if the elections have to be free and fair and also transparent then there is a need for these bogus names to be deleted.

Sharma also said that voters do not trust the EVM machines anymore and there has been a demand from many political parties that the upcoming assembly elections be held on the ballot paper.