The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) misuse in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, stating that no discrepancies were found between the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips and the EVM control unit count.
In an official statement issued on Tuesday, the ECI clarified that reports received from the concerned District Election Officers (DEOs) confirmed that the VVPAT slip counts tallied with the corresponding EVM control unit data. The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) further explained that, as per ECI guidelines, VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling stations per Assembly Constituency are counted during the election process.
On November 23, the VVPAT slips from 1440 units across 288 Assembly Constituencies in Maharashtra were tallied during the vote counting process, with observers and candidate representatives present to oversee the procedure. The CEO affirmed that the counts were conducted transparently and in accordance with established protocols.
Despite this, opposition parties in Maharashtra, including the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance — comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) — have raised concerns about the integrity of the elections, alleging EVM manipulation. The MVA, which secured only 46 seats in the 288-member Assembly, has accused the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which won 230 seats, of rigging the elections.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar has voiced doubts about the legitimacy of the results, claiming that an unprecedented level of power and money was used to manipulate the election process. Pawar also suggested that this manipulation went beyond what has been witnessed in any state or national elections.
In response to the allegations, the NCP (SP) announced plans to form a legal team to challenge the EVM-related accusations. The party intends to gather documentary evidence of alleged irregularities in the EVMs and other electoral processes in a bid to pursue judicial action.
The Election Commission’s statement comes as a rebuttal to these claims, reiterating the fairness and transparency of the election process.
