Rahul alleges ‘industrial-scale rigging’ in 2024 Maharashtra polls, lists steps
Rahul alleges there was an attempt to “conceal the evidence trail”, accuses Election Commission of rejecting all queries from Opposition
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has likened the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance’s victory in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections to “match-fixing”.
In an opinion piece, the Congress MP has alleged “industrial-scale rigging” by the ruling party at the Centre, along with large-scale manipulation of electoral roll data to manipulate the outcome of the election.
“I have doubted the fairness of Indian elections, not every time, not everywhere, but often enough. I am not talking of small-scale cheating, but of industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions,” said Rahul, in the opinion piece for The Indian Express.
Five steps of “rigging”
The former Congress president also outlined in a post on X how the BJP allegedly manipulated the outcome of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections in five steps.
“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,” he stated.
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Removal of CJI from government panel
Elaborating on his first point in the opinion piece, Rahul argued that through the 2024 Election Commissioners Appointment Act, the BJP-led government at the Centre replaced the Chief Justice of India (CJI) with a Union Cabinet minister in the panel that appoints Election Commissioners. He argued that this provides an overwhelming majority in favour of the Centre, as now the remaining member of the panel, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, can always be outvoted.
“The decision to place a Cabinet minister instead of the Chief Justice on the selection committee does not pass the smell test. Ask yourself, why would someone go out of their way to remove a neutral arbiter in an important institution? To ask the question is to know the answer,” said Rahul.
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Increase in registered voters
Elaborating on his second charge, Rahul said the number of registered voters in Maharashtra increased from 8.98 crore in the 2019 Assembly elections to 9.29 crore in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, registering an increase of 31 lakh voters. However, within the next five months, ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, argued Rahul, the total number of registered voters in the state increased by 41 lakh, reaching 9.70 crore.
“A crawl of 31 lakh in five years, then a leap of 41 lakh in just five months. So incredible was this leap that the registered voter total of 9.70 crore was even greater than the 9.54 crore adults in Maharashtra according to the government’s estimates,” said Rahul.
Inflated voter turnout
As for his third charge, alleging that the voter turnout of the Maharashtra Assembly polls was inflated, Rahul wrote that the turnout at 5 pm was 58.22 per cent, adding that even after voting was over, the turnout kept increasing and finally reached 66.05 per cent.
“This unprecedented 7.83 percentage point increase is equivalent to 76 lakh voters — much higher than previous Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra,” wrote Rahul.
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Extra voters only in 85 seats
He further alleged — in the fourth point — that not only were the total number of registered voters inflated, but the majority of the “added voters” were registered in only about 12,000 booths across 85 constituencies where BJP performed poorly in the last Lok Sabha elections. He also claimed that the BJP won in most of the 85 Assembly seats.
“The EC described the sharp increase in voters as 'a welcome trend in the participation of youth'. Apparently, the welcome trend was restricted to 12,000 booths and not the remaining 88,000. This would be an amusing joke if it were not tragic,” said Rahul.
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Concealing evidence trail
Elaborating on his fifth and final charge, he alleged that there was an effort to “conceal the evidence trail” accusing the Election Commission of dealing with all the queries from the Opposition “with silence and even aggression”.
“It summarily dismissed requests to make available voter rolls with photos for the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections,” stated Rahul.
Irreparable damage to institutions
He further alleged that after a high court order directing the EC to share videography and CCTV footage of voting in a polling station, the central government — after consulting the EC — amended the 1961 Conduct of Election Rules Section 93(2)(a) to restrict access to CCTV footage and electronic records.
“It is not hard to guess why rigging in Maharashtra in November 2024 took on such desperate proportions. But rigging is like match-fixing — the fixing side might win a game, but irreparable damage is done to institutions and to people’s faith in the result. Match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy,” he concluded.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won 235 of the 288 assembly seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The BJP alone bagged 132 of these, its best tally in the state. The rival alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was reduced to 50 seats.