'Fake voters in MP': Opposition repeatedly complained to EC, says Congress

Bhopal, July 12 (IANS) After the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission decided to conduct physical verification of voter lists in the state, Congress said on Saturday that the opposition has repeatedly complained to the Election Commission (EC) about the large number of fake voters in Madhya Pradesh

Citing the Election Commission’s data, especially about 8 to 10 per cent suspected fake voters, Congress said that the Assembly elections in November 2023 were conducted based on the same voter list.

“Is it just a coincidence that the number of voters being declared today is almost the same (8 per cent) votes that the BJP won in the Assembly elections 2023. It means that the result of the 2023 Assembly election is also doubtful,” said former Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

He pointed out that the vote share of the Congress and the BJP after the assembly elections was almost equal.

“But in 2023, the BJP’s vote share increased by 8 per cent; despite this, Congress retained its 40 per cent vote share,” he said.

Notably, Congress fought two Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh - 2018 and 2023 under the leadership of Kamal Nath. In 2023, the Congress was reduced to 63 against 114 seats it had won 2018 Assembly election.

On Friday, state Congress chief Jitu Patwari also raised doubts about the result in his own Assembly seat.

“During the 2023 Assembly elections, around 70,000 votes were increased in the last two months in my assembly constituency. I can’t say that my election result was affected by it, but the fact that over 1600 locations in the state have a huge number of voters in a single address shows that the BJP knows how to manipulate elections. The verification of the voter list must be rechecked,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP accused Congress of questioning the Election Commission’s process only when they lose, and suggested that they (Congress) should focus on gaining public acceptance instead.

"Congress puts a question mark on the process of the Election Commission when it keeps losing. If they win, everything is fine. They should go to the public, so that they accept them, and then participate in the political activities," said BJP leader Vishwas Sarang.

--IANS

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