New Delhi: While the Election Commission of India issued an ultimatum last week to Rahul Gandhi to provide his allegations of “vote theft” in an affidavit in a week or apologise to the nation, the Congress is not the only party that has alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and knocked on the poll body’s doors. The EC’s demand for an affidavit from Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, to probe his allegations has been questioned by the Samajwadi Party (SP), which has said that an affidavit was provided following the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections but no action was taken on it. In recent months, a slew of allegations around irregularities in the voter rolls and the conduct of the Election Commission has surfaced from various parties. In December 2024, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) approached the EC alleging irregularities in the votes polled and the votes counted in Odisha which saw simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Assembly in 2024. Since then, the party has received two replies from the poll body but following a meeting with it on Tuesday (August 19), the BJD alleged that the Election Commission “failed to provide answers”. In January, both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged irregularities in voter rolls, with the former taking its complaints on the addition of new voters in the New Delhi constituency to the Election Commission. In March, a month after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee raised duplication of EPIC cards, the TMC went to the EC. However, the matter is yet to be resolved according to the party.Here’s a list of the major complaints raised by political parties in recent months:Samajwadi Party’s affidavitAt his press conference on August 17, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that he had not received any affidavit from the Samajwadi Party. Hours later, SP chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav, in a statement on X, said that the Election Commission should check the acknowledgement receipts issued by his own office and attached screenshots.“The Election Commission is claiming that they have not received the affidavits provided by the Samajwadi Party in UP; they should check the acknowledgment receipt issued by their own office as proof of receipt of our affidavits,” he said. “This time, we demand that the Election Commission provide an affidavit stating that the digital receipt sent to us is authentic, otherwise, not only the ‘Election Commission’ but also ‘Digital India’ will come under suspicion.”The next day, Yadav was seen distributing copies of the affidavit outside parliament.“About 18,000 affidavits have been submitted, and we hope the Election Commission will take appropriate action against these officers or instruct the government to do so. When I received the notice, I sought help from our workers, and we managed to prepare only 18,000 affidavits within the given time frame. If we had more time, we could have prepared many more. But even after giving 18,000 affidavits if no action has been initiated then who will trust the Election Commission?” he asked.Yadav alleged that names of voters belonging to several backward groups, including the Maurya, Pal, Bhagel and Rathore communities, were being deleted to benefit the BJP.Following Yadav’s allegations, the district magistrates of Kasganj, Barabanki, Jaunpur said that they had received email complaints of deletions of voters and refuted Yadav’s allegations saying they were due to voters found to be deceased, migrated or registered more than once.Yadav retorted saying that this was “the math of justice: 18000 – 14 = 17986”“From the Election Commission to the District Magistrate, and from the Circle Officer to the Lekhpal, even after all their manipulations, the ‘BJP-Election Commission-District Magistrate trio’ has only managed to provide ‘half-baked, baseless’ explanations for just 14 out of the 18000 affidavits we submitted. Even if we subtract those 14 from the 18000 affidavits, 17,986 still remain to be accounted for. This is the math of justice,” he said.Not satisfied with EC replies, BJD to move courtThe BJD, which lost power in Odisha in the 2024 assembly elections after over two decades in government, has alleged a range of discrepancies in the state polls that were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. In its memorandum to the EC in December, the BJD said that there were discrepancies in the votes polled and the votes counted, inconsistencies in total votes between parliamentary constituencies and their constituent assembly segments, and unprecedented difference in votes polled and votes counted compared to previous elections.On Tuesday (August 19), the party met the poll body again and said that its issues remain unaddressed, despite two replies received from the poll body in March and May, following which it again wrote to the commission in July.Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the BJD said that it had provided evidentiary support and despite its demands for Form 17C (document signed by polling agents after the close of polls at every polling station) has still not been provided over a year after the elections.“The BJD seeing no other option being available, is going to the high court,” said former Rajya Sabha MP and BJD spokesperson Amar Patnaik.Patnaik said that in the meeting on Tuesday, the EC did not provide satisfactory answers on why there was an unusual increase in polling percentage after 5pm, that is, one hour before voting closes.“We get the impression that the Election Commission’s approach has been my way or highway, whatever we are doing is right and if there is anything wrong it is because your people your booth level workers are not working,” he said.The party said that the EC failed to explain the difference between votes cast for the assembly elections and for the Lok Sabha elections and said that while there should be a trend in percentage of polling throughout the day, in “50% of assembly constituencies voting percentage varied between 15-30%.”Patnaik told The Wire that while the poll body has replied to the BJD, the party was not satisfied and is moving to court. But the question of demanding an affidavit does not arise as there is no specific provision requiring such and the poll body is deviating from the question of an investigation.“The Election Commission of India has to give an affidavit that those whose names appeared in the voter roll actually twice or three times or four times, actually, they did not vote, because that evidence is only with them. It is not with a political party. So I do not understand how the Election Commission is asking that an affidavit has to be given on their data, which is available on public domain,” he said.AAP alleges voter list manipulation ahead of Delhi electionsAhead of the Delhi assembly elections in February, the AAP alleged that voter lists are being manipulated in the national capital. In a meeting with the EC in December, former Delhi chief minister and the party’s nation convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that names of voters from backward communities are being deleted. He said the party had given “3000-page evidence on how BJP is conspiring to cut votes of people of Delhi. Votes of the poor, SC and Dalits are being cut.”In January, the party met the Election Commission again and said that new voters are being registered by BJP MPs in the New Delhi constituency.The district election office, New Delhi, had responded to Kejriwal and said on X, “Submission of applications for addition and deletion of electors in the electoral roll does not automatically result in the addition or deletion of names.” “Each application under Form 6 (for addition) and Form 7 (for deletion) is carefully scrutinised and disposed of in strict compliance with the norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI),” it stated.Following the Election Commission’s press conference on Sunday, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said at a joint opposition press conference that the AAP had moved the Election Commission prior to the Delhi elections saying that multiple voters were found to be living in the houses of central ministers but no action was taken.Not just the AAP, the BJP too had alleged that the AAP was manipulating voter rolls in Delhi, which said that new voters were being created between the ages of 40-80 years.TMC alleges duplicate EPIC cardsIn February, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee raised the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers. In March, a TMC delegation met the Election Commission and said that while the EC has acknowledged the issue, it has still not stated how many duplicate EPIC cards there are.“It (Election Commission) is saying that it will solve the problem in three months, but we are asking if you don’t even know how many duplicate cards there are, how will you solve the problem? We have given some suggestions on how electoral roles can be cleaned up. We have said if there are any changes in the electoral roll, the EC should bring out a separate roll and mention where the deletions and changes have been made,” said TMC MP Sagarika Ghose after meeting the poll body.The BJP too had met the poll body and raised the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers in West Bengal’s voter lists and accused the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government of sheltering undocumented Bangladeshi and Rohingya people and including them in the voter lists.At the opposition press conference on Tuesday, TMC MP Mahua Moitra said the party had given “five letters, submitted a memorandum.” “The deadline for solving the issue of duplicate EPIC cards by their own admission was June 7, which has since passed,” she said.BJP’s allegationsThe BJP has not only raised the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers in West Bengal’s voter lists and manipulation of rolls by the AAP in Delhi, but after Gandhi’s allegations of vote theft in Mahadevapura, it has also alleged irregularities in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.BJP MP Anurag Thakur alleged irregularities in voter rolls in Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour and Kannauj, asking Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Abhishek Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav to resign as Lok Sabha MPs. The EC is yet to ask for an affidavit from Thakur, with the CEC refusing to comment on why the BJP MP has not been asked for one.