Bhopal- Amid the ongoing high-voltage row over alleged irregularities in the electoral system in the country at the national level, the Madhya Pradesh Congress has levelled some serious allegations of 'vote theft' during the Assembly Elections held in November 2023. Senior Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly, Umang Singhar along with some other senior leaders presented graphics based on data, scanned government orders and regulations, during a Press conference at the party's headquarters in Bhopal on Tuesday.

The Congress, which is the main Opposition party in Madhya Pradesh, raised apprehensions on the results of 27 Assembly seats, in which Congress candidates lost the election with very narrow margins. "The Congress lost these 27 seats by very narrow margins despite an unexpected vote growth in these Assembly constituencies, which indicates irregularities in the voter list," LoP Umang Singhar said while addressing the Press. He stated that, in those same constituencies, the increase in voter numbers was found to be much higher than the margin of defeat, "suggesting that BJP may have been given an undue advantage".

Singhar said that the ECI refused to publish photos in online voter lists citing ‘privacy’ and ‘file size’, but when the government advertised its schemes, photos and videos of beneficiaries were made fully public in documents and ads. "If privacy isn’t violated there, why are photos not included in the voter list, which is essential for transparency,” the Congress leader asked. He claimed that, "Whenever irregularities in the voter list are raised, the Madhya Pradesh CEO website either goes down or shows the notice ‘website under maintenance'". However, despite the explosive nature of the charges by the Opposition party, the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh was yet to response to the Congress' allegations. In the last Assembly elections held in November 2023, the BJP had won 163 out 230 seats, while the Congress could secure only 66 seats. (IANS)