Maharashtra poll rolls head to DEOs as Congress keeps pressure on EC

Time of India

11-06-2025

Nearly a week after the results of the Maharashtra assembly polls were announced on 23rd November 2024- delivering the Maha Vikas Aghadi a landslide victory- a
Congress
delegation submitted an 'urgent memorandum' to the
Election Commission of India
on 29/11/2024 red flagging 'grave inconsistencies' in the just concluded polls.
The issue continues to simmer, has gone to court in February and is going to land at the office of the District Election Officer across Maharashtra and Haryana from June on—if pursued so by the Congress party.
ET details the
Electoral Roll debate
that has erupted with Congress allegations after Maharashtra polls.
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Electoral Roll – Nov'24 to June '25
In its 29/11/2024 representation, the INC primarily raised two concerns- on 'arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent additions' and 'inexplicable increase in voting percentages from 5 pm to the final voter percentage declared' by ECI at 11:30 pm on day of polling.
On November 30, the ECI sent in an interim reply to the party pointing out that electoral rolls are finalized with active participation of political parties including the Congress and the copies of draft electoral rolls are also given to party representatives for due verification. It also pointed to Form 17C- on total votes polled being shared with political parties.
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On December 4, ECI held an in-person meeting with senior Congress leaders on various issues raised and spent near 1.5 hours for a point by point explanation.
A month later, on December 24, 2024 the ECI sent in a 66 page detailed reply to the Congress party- including an 11 page explanation and clarification on specific INC concerns besides annexures on FAQs on the poll process and previous communications involved.
It is from here that the matter moves toc ourts and into even older electoral rolls – going back over a decade.
In court
On 27.12.2024, Congress MP
Randeep Surjewala
made a representation to the ECI seeking all electoral rolls for assembly and Lok Sabha polls for Maharashtra and Haryana from 2009 until 2024.
In February 2025 Surjewala went on to file a writ petition in Delhi High Court over the delay in EC taking a decision on his representation 'despite passage of nearly two months'.
After the filing of the petition- on 24/02/2025- the ECI is learnt to have written to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of Maharashtra and Haryana 'to decide on the representation in accordance with law by speaking orders'.
On February 25, Surjewala's counsel brought to the court's attention that 'no time limit has been circumscribed for deciding the representation' and sought that it be decided upon 'within a timebound manner'.
The ECI submitted in court that that since electoral rolls from 2009 on are sought by the petitioner, 'at least a period of three months' was required to decide the representation.
In its February 25, 2025 order Justice Jyoti Singh disposed Surjewala's petition asking ECI to decide on the 27.12.2024 representation 'as expeditiously as possible and not later than three months from today'.
The ECI has complied.
ECI green signal
As reported first by ET, just as the three month window closed, on May 22 and May 24 respectively- the CEOs of Maharashtra and Haryana decided that Surjewala can seek electoral roll records from 2009 on- those that are permitted to be shared by rulebooks- from
District Election Officers
(DEOs) who are the custodians of the roll.
These would have to be sought on payment of a prescribed fee. The same was communicated to the petitioner in May itself.
On June 9, Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi
termed it a 'Good first step taken by EC to hand over voter rolls' and asked if the EC can 'announce the exact date by which this data will be handed over in a digital, machine-readable format'.
That is easier said than done.
What this means
Many of these documents, in fact, can be sought from the DEO through an application and payment of prescribed fee- without any court intervention. That is also the easiest way.
While draft electoral rolls are shared with all political parties at the time of summary roll revision for claims and objections, under Rule 85D of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, copies of finally published electoral rolls are supplied to contesting candidates of recognized political parties free of cost- within three days after the list of contesting candidates is prepared.
The 'marked copy' of the electoral roll – the one used on poll day- which indicates more details on the electors that came to cast the vote is retained by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for a prescribed period only.
In fact, under Rule 32 of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960, there are varying retention periods for copies of electoral rolls from before 2013 and after that year—owing to an amendment in 2013.
At the same time, there are other electoral related documents- for instance the 'marked copy' which are more difficult to access and EC may often not be able to share them without court approvals.
It is also to be noted that several of the older records are hardly in a 'digital' format—in fact, it is a pain point for many a CEOs who have trouble creating secure storage for older and bulky print documents.
It is more likely that the INC will get the copies of electoral rolls as they exist and are available—especially those predating 2013.
Therefore, while ECI has given the green signal to document sharing, it is still a long process to get access to the rolls as applications will have to be made DEO wise.