Rahul Gandhi slams ECI over 2.07 crore voter deletions in Maharashtra SIR roll
Synopsis
Rahul Gandhi's broadside against the ECI zeroes in on a single alarming data point: Maharashtra's voter count has collapsed from 9.70 crore during the 2024 Assembly elections to 7.78 crore in the 2026 SIR draft — a drop of 2.07 crore, or roughly one in five registered voters. With West Bengal's SIR showing 91% of deletions reversed only after elections, the controversy raises urgent questions about whether large-scale voter exclusions are correctable in time to matter.
Key Takeaways
Rahul Gandhi on 1 September accused the ECI and BJP of manipulating Maharashtra's electoral rolls through the 2026 SIR exercise.
Maharashtra's voter count fell from 9.70 crore (2024 Assembly elections) to 7.78 crore in the SIR draft — a drop of 2.07 crore voters .
Gandhi alleged 39 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, calling it 'vote theft.' In the 2026 West Bengal SIR , 91% of deleted names reportedly had to be reinstated after elections, according to Gandhi.
The MPCC has demanded the state CEO publish a booth-wise list of voters marked for notices; BLOs have not yet received procedural instructions.
Advocate Sandesh Kondvilkar of the MPCC has formally demanded the release of the notice list to protect voting rights.
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday, 1 September, launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging systematic manipulation of Maharashtra's electoral rolls after 2.07 crore voters — nearly one in five registered voters in the state — were excluded from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft roll.
The Numbers at the Centre of the Controversy
In a detailed statement posted on social media platform X, Gandhi laid out a striking sequence of voter count fluctuations in Maharashtra across three successive exercises: 9.29 crore voters during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, rising to 9.70 crore during the 2024 Assembly elections, and then dropping sharply to 7.78 crore in the 2026 SIR draft roll. Pointing to the swing, Gandhi asked, 'Which list was correct?'
Gandhi had previously flagged the addition of 39 lakh voters in Maharashtra in the brief window between the two 2024 elections, stating at the time that it amounted to vote theft — a charge he reiterated on Tuesday.
Gandhi's Broader Pattern Argument
The Congress leader also drew attention to the 2026 SIR exercise in West Bengal, where, according to him, 91 per cent of deleted names — nine out of every ten deletions — had to be reinstated following official appeals. Critically, he noted that this correction came only after elections had concluded and a regime change had already occurred, raising questions about the timing and impact of such deletions on electoral outcomes.
'For a government formed through vote theft, the public does not matter — which is why this BJP neither listens to the people nor respects their mandate,' Gandhi said, adding that a government born out of voter manipulation remains entirely unaccountable to citizens.
MPCC Demands Booth-Wise Transparency
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) echoed Gandhi's concerns, urging the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to immediately publish a booth-wise list of voters marked for notices under the ongoing SIR drive. The MPCC flagged that the current draft roll includes voters categorised as 'suspicious' or unmapped, without any clear distinguishing markers — a situation it said has triggered widespread panic among voters.
The party warned that Block Level Officers (BLOs) may replicate past patterns that previously rendered 1.52 crore voters in Maharashtra as unlocated or permanently migrated, potentially causing mass wrongful disenfranchisement.
Ground-Level Administrative Gaps
Advocate Sandesh Kondvilkar, General Secretary of the MPCC, confirmed that BLOs have not yet received clear instructions on constituency-wise notice and hearing procedures. Kondvilkar has submitted a formal demand to the CEO seeking the immediate release of the list of voters scheduled to receive notices, citing the need to protect citizens' voting rights.
With millions of voters potentially facing summons for hearings, the Congress maintains that without procedural clarity and public disclosure, the SIR exercise risks undermining the very democratic participation it is meant to safeguard. The ECI is yet to formally respond to the allegations.
Point of View
In a single state, without a corresponding demographic event, is statistically extraordinary. The ECI's silence in the face of specific, data-backed allegations compounds the credibility deficit. What is missing from the public discourse is an independent audit of SIR methodology: how deletions are triggered, who verifies them, and what recourse exists before — not after — elections. The West Bengal precedent, where 91% of deletions were reversed post-poll, is the most damning detail in Gandhi's charge sheet, and the one that most urgently requires an institutional answer.
NationPress
1 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Maharashtra SIR voter deletion controversy?
The controversy centres on the 2026 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft electoral roll in Maharashtra, which shows only 7.78 crore registered voters — down from 9.70 crore during the 2024 Assembly elections, a reduction of 2.07 crore voters. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged this constitutes systematic manipulation of the voter list by the ECI and the BJP.
What did Rahul Gandhi say about the voter deletions?
Gandhi posted a detailed breakdown on social media platform X, highlighting the sharp drop in Maharashtra's voter count across three successive exercises. He called the ECI the 'Vote Theft Commission' and alleged that the ruling BJP uses voter list manipulation to secure electoral victories, stating: 'For a government formed through vote theft, the public does not matter.'
What happened in West Bengal's 2026 SIR that Gandhi cited?
Gandhi alleged that in West Bengal's 2026 SIR exercise, 91 per cent of deleted voter names — nine out of every ten deletions — had to be reinstated after official appeals. However, he noted that this correction occurred only after elections had concluded and a regime change had taken place, raising concerns about the real-world impact of such deletions.
What is the MPCC demanding from the Chief Electoral Officer?
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has demanded that the state Chief Electoral Officer immediately publish a booth-wise list of voters marked for notices under the SIR drive. The party also flagged that Block Level Officers have not received clear procedural instructions, warning of potential mass wrongful disenfranchisement.
How has the ECI responded to these allegations?
As of the date of this report, the Election Commission of India had not formally responded to the allegations made by Rahul Gandhi or the MPCC regarding the Maharashtra SIR draft roll deletions.
