Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s 2024 has been accused of many irregularities in the Maharashtra assembly elections. These irregularities include rigging in voter list, increase in voting percentage and fake voting targeted in BJP strongholds. However, the Election Commission has lodged a strong objection on this statement of Rahul.
The Election Commission (EC) officials called Rahul’s statement “absurd” and an attempt to discredit the voting body. Gandhi mentioned the five-phase process in his article in The Indian Express-rigging, adding fake voters, increasing voting percentage, targeting voting in strong areas of BJP and hiding evidence-but EC officials said that their claims refer to select data, ignore references and lack evidence.
He reported that the voter list is shared with the parties, due to the voters confidentiality, it cannot be told who voted, and in December 2024, access to CCTV footage to protect privacy was limited.
The EC mentioned that 40.81 lakh new voters were added, most of the youth, and the increase in polling in view of the hourly polling rate of Maharashtra. The example of a cheap by Gandhi, where BJP’s votes increased, were explained by natural voter growth, not rigging.
The EC emphasized its transparent processes, saying that during the voting, the agents of the Congress did not complain, and called the allegations an insult to the election staff and the rule of law.