With 2.07 crore of the 9.78 crore electors in Maharashtra not making it to the draft electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said that “people are not important” for a government built on “vote theft”. He said that’s why the BJP “neither listens to the people nor obeys their command”.

Following the publication of Maharashtra’s draft electoral roll on Monday, several people complained of difficulties accessing the list online. The Election Commission later said the name-search facility was being worked on and would be available by Tuesday evening or Wednesday. The draft roll shows that names of 2.07 crore of the 9.78 crore electors before the SIR were struck off.

Gandhi, a vocal critic of the Election Commission, said that the BJP and the “Vote Theft Commission” keep changing their tactics, and “the goal remains just one: BJP’s victory at any cost, and the end of India’s democracy”.

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In a post on X on Tuesday, Gandhi wrote: “Maharashtra 2024 – Suddenly, 3.9 million new voters were added between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. I said it then, and I say it today: This was vote theft.”

Mentioning the SIR in West Bengal before the Assembly polls, he said, “Of the names struck off in the SIR, 91% had to be reinstated after appeals”. “That means 9 out of every 10 names were wrongly deleted, and added back only after the election. I said it then, and I say it today: This was vote theft,” wrote Gandhi.

About Maharashtra, Gandhi said, “2.07 crore voters have been removed from the draft list—that’s every fifth voter.” “Lok Sabha 2024: 9.29 crore; Vidhan Sabha 2024: 9.7 crore; SIR 2026: 7.78 crore… Which list was correct?” he asked.

The Election Commission on Monday said the 2.07 crore figure should not be seen as the definite number of voters to be deleted from the rolls. The draft publication has been followed by a month-long claims and objections period, during which eligible electors whose names are missing can apply for inclusion.