Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) were engaged in a war of words on Saturday after the Rae Bareli MP reiterated his party’s allegations of “match-fixing” in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
In his latest post on X, Gandhi, who is the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, attacked the poll panel for releasing evasive notes in response to his charges.
“You are a constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions,” he said.
The Congress leader dared the Commission to publish consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states, including Maharashtra, and release all post-5pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths.
“Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” Gandhi said.
It all started when, earlier in the day, Gandhi shared an article he had written for the Indian Express on X and claimed that the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy.
Rahul alleged that the election rigging took place in five steps: rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission, add fake voters to the roll, inflate voter turnout, target the bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win, and hide the evidence.
Gandhi further alleged that the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next and then anywhere the BJP is losing.
In a strong rebuttal to his allegations, the ECI issued a statement saying “unsubstantiated allegations” raised against the electoral rolls of Maharashtra are an affront to the rule of law.
"Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards the law but also brings disrepute to the thousands of representatives appointed by their own political party and demotivates lakhs of election staff who work untiringly and transparently during elections. After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised is completely absurd," the poll panel said.
Meanwhile, Gandhi’s allegations have also led to a political storm, with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accusing the Congress leader of insulting the people of Maharashtra and women voters.
Fadnavis said the claims made by Gandhi amounted to his admission of the Congress's defeat in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections and appealed to him to refrain from "falsely comforting" himself by lying.
The state Congress has come out in support of Gandhi’s claims and said the party will organise torchlight processions on June 12 in Maharashtra to draw people's attention to the "vote theft pattern" of the 2024 polls.
"The credibility of the Election Commission is at stake and democracy is under threat. To awaken public awareness, the Congress party will organise torchlight processions across Maharashtra on June 12," state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said.