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The Election Commission has rebutted Rahul Gandhi’s claims of ‘match-fixing’ in Maharashtra elections.
Mr Gandhi questioned the integrity of the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections’ conduct.
The opposition alliance had secured only 46 seats.
New Delhi:
Issuing a rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi’s fresh claims of “match-fixing” in the November 2024 Maharashtra elections, the Election Commission has re-released a document it had issued in April this year and said the Congress MP’s allegations are “completely absurd”.
Hitting back hours later, Mr Gandhi said the poll body had released “unsigned, evasive notes”, adding that was no way of answering serious questions. He also said that if the Election Commission has nothing to hide, it should answer the questions posed by him and also release the CCTV footage from Maharashtra booths after 5 pm on the day of voting.
Election Commission sources then responded, noting it was strange that Mr Gandhi had not written to the poll body directly and was seeking answers through the media.
The sparring began on Saturday morning when, in an op-ed for The Indian Express, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha raised fresh questions about the way the Maharashtra Assembly elections were conducted. The alliance of the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena had suffered a humiliating defeat in the elections despite doing better than the BJP-led coalition in the Lok Sabha polls a few months before that.
The three parties managed to win only 46 of the state’s 288 Assembly seats between them while the BJP secured 132 and the factions of the NCP and the Shiv Sena that were allied with it added 98 to the coalition’s tally.
Mr Gandhi raised questions about what he claimed was the addition of fake voters to the roll, inflated voter turnout, targeted bogus voting, rigging the panel for appointing the Election Commission, and hiding evidence.
In a post on X, he also expressed apprehension that the same thing could happen in the Bihar Assembly elections later this year.
How to steal an election?
Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy.
My article shows how this happened, step by step:
Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission
Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll
Step 3: Inflate voter… pic.twitter.com/ntCwtPVXTu— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 7, 2025
Responding to the charges, the Election Commission pointed out that no serious allegations were made by the party or polling agents appointed by it at the time of voting.
“In every polling booth, the voting progressed in front of the polling agents formally appointed by candidates/political parties. Nominated candidates of the INC (Indian National Congress) or their authorised agents have not raised any substantiated allegations with regard to any kind of abnormal voting at the time of scrutiny before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Observers on the next day,” the Election Commission said.
It also said no party had filed a substantial number of appeals against the addition of voters to the rolls, making it clear there was no grievance.
“After the finalisation of these Electoral Rolls during Maharashtra elections, as against 9,77,90,752 Electors, only a total of 89 appeals were filed before the 1st appellate authority (DM) and only 1 appeal was filed before the 2nd appellate authority (CEO). Therefore, it is amply clear that there was no grievance of INC or any other political parties before the conduct of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2024,” it said.
‘Facts Ignored’
Rapping the party for making unsubstantiated allegations and ignoring facts, it added, “Booth Level Agents were also appointed by all Political Parties, including 27,099 by INC. Therefore, these unsubstantiated allegations raised against the Electoral Rolls of Maharashtra are affront to the rule of law. The Election Commission had brought out all these facts in its reply to INC on 24th December 2024 itself which is available on ECI’s website. It appears that all these facts are completely being ignored while raising such issues again and again.”
An Election Commission source said, “More than 1 lakh booth-level officers of Maharashtra are still waiting for such wild allegations to be converted into at least a single real appeal in front of District Magistrates as per Section 24 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act 1950.”
The commission emphasised that Indian elections are held as per the law, and their scale and accuracy are praised around the world.
“Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards 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,” it said.
‘Evasion Won’t Protect Credibility’
Responding to the poll body’s statement, Mr Gandhi said it should stop being evasive and publish digital voter rolls for the most recent elections, including for the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra Assembly, and release CCTV footage from the polling booths in Maharashtra after 5 pm on the day of voting.
“Dear EC, You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions,” the Congress MP wrote on X on Saturday evening.
Dear EC,
You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions.
If you have nothing to hide, answer the questions in my article and prove it by:
• Publishing consolidated, digital, machine-readable…
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 7, 2025
“If you have nothing to hide, answer the questions in my article and prove it by: Publishing consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states including Maharashtra; and releasing all post-5pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths. Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” he added.
Hitting back, an Election Commission source said, “Instead of writing to the Election Commission directly, it is very strange that Rahul Gandhi has chosen to approach the media seeking answers to his doubts. He should not shy away from writing to the Election Commission himself.”
