Voters shifted out of Nagpur, yet electorate rose: Gudadhe questions rolls | Nagpur News

Nagpur: City Congress president Praful Gudadhe on Saturday questioned the sharp increase in voters in constituencies such as South-West Nagpur and Kamptee despite several voters from Nagpur allegedly being shifted to electoral rolls of constituencies elsewhere in Maharashtra before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.Addressing a press conference, Gudadhe said the issue was not merely about the ongoing SIR but about what happened to the city’s voters during successive revisions of electoral rolls. He claimed that voters from Nagpur had been shifted to constituencies in Pune, Palghar and other parts of Maharashtra, while the electorate in some Nagpur constituencies continued to increase. He also cited examples of eight voters.“The question is, if voters from Nagpur were shifted to other constituencies, how did the number of voters in constituencies like South-West Nagpur and Kamptee increase?” Gudadhe asked, demanding that Election Commission explain the additions, deletions and transfers reflected in successive electoral rolls.Gudadhe claimed that Congress had identified voters from Nagpur whose names were now appearing in electoral rolls of constituencies outside the city. He cited examples of voters from South-West Nagpur who, according to him, were now shown in Nala Sopara in Palghar and constituencies in Pune. He said Congress would examine the rolls further to establish the extent of such transfers.The Congress leader said voter movement could not be viewed in isolation and sought a constituency-wise account of deletions, transfers and additions between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and subsequent electoral-roll revisions. He said the figures were particularly significant in South-West Nagpur and Kamptee, where the electorate had increased despite alleged outward movement of Nagpur voters.Gudadhe also questioned the SIR mapping process and alleged that political workers were assisting in the exercise through an application. He said he had written to Nagpur district collector Kumar Ashirwad on July 28 seeking answers on the role of political workers and the process of voter mapping. Despite sending three reminders, he claimed, the collector had not replied to his questions.Gudadhe also refused to apologise to BJP city president Dayashankar Tiwari, whose 48-hour deadline seeking an unconditional apology from him ended on Saturday. Gudadhe said he stood by his allegations and would present his evidence before a court if Tiwari filed a defamation case.Asked whether Congress would itself approach the court over its concerns regarding SIR, Gudadhe said it would not, claiming there was little hope of getting relief. Citing the example of Shiv Sena’s division, he said the party had seen how such matters had been dealt with and therefore did not expect a meaningful outcome from approaching the court.Citing the experience of the Bihar and West Bengal elections, where he claimed lakhs of voters’ names were deleted following SIR, Gudadhe said Congress would now take the issue to the streets and launch a sustained agitation over voter deletions, transfers and additions. Comparing the planned campaign with the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’, he said persistent street protests could force the govt to bend and even change a minister. Congress, he said, would similarly mobilise people and intensify its agitation over alleged discrepancies in electoral rolls.