By: Karan Thapr Published in:* The Wire* Date: November 27, 2024 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4GC39nALU *Note*: This interview is in English and the transcript is embedded in the source
"The well-known economist and current affairs commentator, Parakala Prabhakar, has drawn attention to mystifying, inexplicable and disconcerting discrepancies in the official turnout figures put out by the Election Commission in Maharashtra which, he says, 'question the legitimacy of the mandate'. Dr. Parakala is also Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband. Very simply, when polls closed at 5.00 p.m. on the 20th, the turnout was 58.22%. By 11.30 p.m. on the same day, after accommodating people presumably waiting in the queue to vote at 5.00 p.m., it increased to 65.02%. Hours before the counting started on the 23rd it was put at 66.05%. This means that the turnout increased by 7.83% after polls closed at 5.00 p.m. Dr. Parakala estimates that this is, in terms of the number of people, an increase of almost 76 lakhs."
