Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections were manipulated in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing the Modi government of orchestrating “industrial-scale rigging” and compromising the integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In his op-ed titled “Match-fixing Maharashtra” published in The Indian Express, Gandhi outlined a four-step process allegedly employed to influence the election outcome. He claimed that the 2023 Election Commissioners Appointment Act allowed the Prime Minister and Home Minister to dominate the selection of election commissioners, sidelining the judiciary and compromising the ECI’s independence. Gandhi also pointed to an unprecedented surge in voter registration—an increase of 41 lakh voters in just five months—and a suspicious rise in voter turnout after 5 pm on election day, suggesting these anomalies facilitated targeted bogus voting in constituencies where the BJP had previously underperformed.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed Gandhi’s allegations as unfounded and politically motivated. In a counter-opinion piece, Fadnavis wrote, “He must stop insulting voters of Maharashtra,” asserting that Gandhi was “rejecting the people’s mandate” due to his own electoral failures. Fadnavis emphasized that the increase in voter numbers was attributable to urbanization and demographic shifts, not electoral fraud.
The Election Commission of India also refuted Gandhi’s claims. In a statement reported by ANI, the ECI affirmed that all counting processes were conducted transparently in the presence of candidates and their agents, and no complaints were received regarding the procedures at the time.
Despite these rebuttals, Gandhi doubled down on his assertions. In a tweet, he challenged the ECI to release detailed booth-wise voter turnout data and CCTV footage from the strong rooms, stating:
“The Election Commission’s job is to conduct free and fair elections, not issue political statements for the BJP. If the ECI has nothing to hide, why not release the booth-wise voter turnout data and the CCTV footage of the strong rooms? Prove it.”
The controversy has intensified scrutiny over the functioning of the Election Commission, with civil society groups echoing concerns about transparency. Opposition leaders are now calling for an independent inquiry into the counting process in the affected constituencies.
