New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, called the Election Commission of India “compromised” at an event in the US Sunday, reiterating his allegations of irregularities in last year’s Maharashtra Assembly elections, in which the BJP secured a landslide victory.
Rahul, who is on a three-day visit to the US, made the remarks at an event in Boston, drawing criticism from the ruling BJP, which accused the senior Congress MP of undermining Constitutional bodies by making “anti-India” statements on foreign soil.
While a full recording of Rahul’s interaction at the event was not immediately available, a clip aired on television channels showed him commenting on the electoral process, where he could be heard alleging that there was “something very wrong with the system”.
Rahul alleged that during the Maharashtra Assembly polls, 65 lakh votes were cast within a span of 2 hours, between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm.
“Now, that is physically impossible. Voting takes approximately three minutes per person, and if you do the math, it would mean there were lines of voters till 2 am. But that didn’t happen,” he said.
He went on to allege that not only did the poll watchdog refuse to share electronic footage of the polling process with the Congress party, it “changed the law” so that no one can approach it for such records.
He was referring to the Centre’s amendment of the Conduct of Election Rules in December last year. The amendment effectively put electronic footage, which was earlier open to public inspection, of the polling process outside the definition of election papers.
“It’s very clear to us that the Election Commission is compromised. It’s very clear that there is something very wrong with the system. We have said it publicly, I have said it multiple times,” Rahul said.
Reacting to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said undermining India’s institutions abroad had become Rahul’s “identity”.
“Rahul Gandhi continues to criticise India on foreign soil just because he has personal issues with a political party. This time, he has once again raised questions about the Election Commission and its functioning. While the world praises the Election Commission for its spectacular work in the general elections and in Jammu and Kashmir, here is Rahul Gandhi repeatedly undermining India’s constitutional institutions,” Poonawalla said.
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Rahul’s previous visits abroad
This is Rahul Gandhi’s second visit to the US since taking over as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha following the 2024 general elections. In September 2024, he engaged with the Indian diaspora in Washington and Texas, and also spoke at an event at Georgetown University.
Even then, he had cast doubts on the integrity of the Election Commission and the fairness of India’s electoral process. He alleged that the 2024 general elections were unfairly conducted, with the BJP benefiting from a “huge financial advantage”.
“I don’t see it as a free election. I see it as a heavily controlled election. I don’t believe that in a fair election, the BJP would come anywhere near 240 seats. I would be surprised… The Election Commission was doing what they wanted. The entire campaign was structured so that Mr Modi could carry out his agenda across the country, with different designs for different states,” Rahul claimed.
In June 2023, Rahul held interactions at the University of Santa Clara and Stanford University. He also met entrepreneurs and tech professionals in Silicon Valley before heading to Washington DC, where he addressed a press conference at the National Press Club and spoke on India-US relations at the Hudson Institute.
Prior to that, he visited the UK in February-March 2023. There, he addressed the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, the Indian Journalists’ Association, and the Chatham House think tank. He also spoke at an event in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons.
His remark at Cambridge that “democracy is under attack in India” had sparked a major controversy.
“Everybody knows and it’s in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack… The institutional framework which is required for a democracy: Parliament, a free press, the judiciary and just the idea of mobilisation, these are all getting constrained. We are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy,” Rahul had said.
All these events, including the current ones in the US, were organised by the Indian Overseas Congress, which is headed by Gandhi-family loyalist Sam Pitroda.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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