Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday alleged that the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election was “rigged” and warned that a similar pattern could repeat in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections later this year.
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Sharing his concerns in a post on X, Gandhi also attached a newspaper article he authored, detailing the alleged electoral manipulation in Maharashtra. “Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy. My article shows how this happened, step by step,” Gandhi said on X.
Here’s what Rahul Gandhi said
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi outlined a five-step process he believes was used to rig the Maharashtra Assembly election. He further claimed that the next steps include inflating the voter turnout, targeting the bogus voting exactly where the BJP needs to win and hiding the evidence.
“Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission; Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll; Step 3: Inflate voter turnout; Step 4: Target the bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win; Step 5: Hide the evidence,” Gandhi said.
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He further labelled rigging as “match-fixing”, saying that the side cheats might win the game but damage institutions and destroy public faith in the result.
“It’s not hard to see why the BJP was so desperate in Maharashtra. But rigging is like match-fixing – the side that cheats might win the game but will damage institutions and destroy public faith in the result. All concerned Indians must see the evidence. Judge for themselves. Demand answers,” the Rae Bareli MP said.
Gandhi warned that the “match-fixing” of Maharashtra would come to Bihar next, where the polls are due later this year, and then “anywhere” the BJP was losing elections.
“Match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy,” he added.
The Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 witnessed a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, securing a landslide win with 235 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats.
The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, part of the Mahayuti alliance, also made notable gains, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has earlier cleared misconceptions about voter turnout amidst concerns raised by the Congress party after the Maharashtra Assembly elections. In its detailed response to the Congress party, the apex poll body explained the process behind the aggregation of voter turnout data during the election.
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In response to the Congress Party’s concerns, the Election Commission of India (ECI) clarified in a letter that the increase in reported voter turnout between 5 PM and 11:45 PM is a routine part of the data aggregation process. It explained that minor discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted can occur but are genuine and inconsequential.
The ECI firmly stated that actual voter turnout figures cannot be manipulated, as statutory Form 17C, which records the official turnout, is provided to authorised polling agents of all candidates at the close of voting at each polling station.
Rigging is like match-fixing – the side that cheats might win the game but will damage institutions and destroy public faith in the result.
Regarding allegations of arbitrary additions or deletions of voters, the Commission maintained that no such irregularities occurred in Maharashtra.