The Election Commission has invited the Congress to explain on December 3 its complaints about poll malpractices and assured the party to look into its allegations of “arbitrary” changes to the electoral rolls in Maharashtra.

On Friday, the Congress had repeated its complaints of arbitrary changes to the rolls and an “inexplicable” rise in voter turnout after 5pm in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The poll panel replied: “At the outset, the commission is thankful to the INC for bringing to its notice the party’s concerns about the above issues…. The commission assures INC that it will make all efforts to address the party’s all legitimate concerns.”

It added: “The copies of draft electoral roll published are given to political parties and the verification process involves political parties at every stage of the process. Having stated this, the commission would get the issues raised by the INC examined and keep them informed of the outcome.”

The EC’s response is a sharp departure from its terse replies to the allegations of electoral inconsistencies flagged by the Congress in the recent past.

On the rise in turnout, the EC reminded the Congress of its previous replies that voters in the queue at the closing time on polling day were legally entitled to cast their votes. It also added that polling agents of candidates in every booth were given a copy of Form 17C with the number of votes cast there at the close of polling.

“Irrespective of the above general positions, the commission will convey its detailed reply to the issues raised in your letter at the earliest possible, but after suitably hearing from you further in person, for which you have conveyed a request. Accordingly, the INC delegation is welcome to the commission at 5pm on 3 December,” the EC said.

The Congress had previously objected to the EC’s tone in its replies even as chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar went on the offensive against “false narratives” that undermined the legitimacy of elections.

A section of the Congress has also distanced itself from claims by colleagues of voting machine fraud as a reason for their poor performance in the recent elections.