A delegation of the Congress-led by senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday met the Election Commission of India (ECI) and expressed its concerns on alleged arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent additions, and inexplicable increase in voting percentages in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Talking to reporters outside the poll panel’s office, Singhvi, flanked by Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and other party leaders, said, “We had a discussion in a very cordial, constructive and positive atmosphere. I started by telling the Commission that ultimately we are furthering the cause of democracy because an uneven non-level playing field for elections directly affects and undermines the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.” He claimed the ECI will give them a point-by-point explanation or rebuttal in writing in the near future over the matter.

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The meeting of the Congress delegation with the ECI comes in the wake of time given by the poll panel following a complaint lodged by the party with it in which it alleged serious and grave inconsistencies in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls.

The senior party leader informed the media persons that they have said that they are there before the poll panel in a constructive spirit, in the interest of transparency and to reduce the “trust deficit”. He said ultimately the first step is to get disclosure of large volumes of raw data.

“Three or four main issues we raised. Issue number one was the large number of deletions from voter lists in the Maharashtra elections in the five month period between the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly elections. We have questioned the door-to-door surveys which are mandatorily required before you do deletion. We have asked for raw data both booth-wise and constituency-wise,” Singhvi said.

Highlighting voter additions, he said, “We pointed out that in this short time of five months, there are roughly 47 lakh additions. Now the EC says it is 39 lakhs. That’s not a small number.’’On  voting percentage data, he said, “As far as the polling votes are concerned, it is unnatural. It is not based on any normal pattern of electoral behavior. We need raw data (to analyse).”