The controversy over the newspaper article by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, alleging match-fixing in Maharashtra assembly elections, refused to die down on Sunday, with both Congress and BJP leaders engaged in a war of words.
In his article, Gandhi reiterated the Congress party’s allegations that the elections to the state assembly in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy. He shared the article on X and sought a response from the poll body to the issues he had raised in the article.
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However, sources in the Election Commission said on Sunday that the poll body would respond only if Gandhi wrote to it directly.
The sources pointed out that as part of its outreach, the EC had invited all six national parties for separate interactions. While the other five met the EC officials, Congress cancelled the May 15 meeting.
Responding to a question on Gandhi's demand for CCTV footage of polling stations in Maharashtra of the evening hours, they said as per instructions of the EC, the CCTV footage of polling stations can always be scrutinised by the competent high court when an election petition is filed.
"This is done by the EC to protect the integrity of elections as well as protect the privacy of voters. Why does Rahul Gandhi want to invade the privacy of voters, which is to be protected by the EC as per electoral laws?" an EC official was quoted as saying by the PTI.
Gandhi, in an article written for the Indian Express on Saturday, had 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.
When the poll panel issued a statement on X, dismissing Gandhi’s allegations, the Congress leader doubled down on his charges and said releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions.
He 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.
