The BJP has termed Mr Gandhi's claims as "disgraceful".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a critique of the November 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating a "match-fixing" operation to engineer a victory. The Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured 235 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP alone accounted for 132 of these, its best performance in the state's history.
Mr Gandhi, in an op-ed for The Indian Express, claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) employed a five-step model to subvert the democratic process in the state.
"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," Mr Gandhi wrote in a post that accompanied a cutout of his op-ed.
In the 2024 elections, while the BJP registered a landslide victory, in contrast, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) formed by the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) was reduced to a mere 50 seats. For Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who had lost control of their respective parties and symbols in the preceding months, the result was a massive blow.
"I am not talking of small-scale cheating, but of industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions," Mr Gandhi wrote in his article.
Mr Gandhi's first contention centres on the changes brought by the BJP-led Centre in 2023 through the Election Commissioners Appointment Act. The Act replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the committee responsible for selecting Election Commissioners. Mr Gandhi argues that this shifted the balance decisively in favour of the executive.
"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," Mr Gandhi wrote.
The Election Commission has maintained that its functioning remains autonomous and that it adheres strictly to constitutional laws.
The BJP has termed Mr Gandhi's claims as "disgraceful".
"Rahul Gandhi is back to his disgraceful antics of demonising the country's institutions. These issues have been repeatedly addressed by the EC in absolute detail," said the BJP's Tuhin Sinha.
BJP leader and Union Health Minister JP Nadda countered Mr Gandhi's remarks with his own 5-step blueprint.
"Rahul Gandhi's latest article is a blueprint for manufacturing fake narratives, owing to his sadness and desperation of losing election after election. Here's how he does it, step by step:
Step 1: Congress Party gets defeated election after election due to his antics.
Step 2: Instead of introspecting, he cooks up bizarre conspiracies and cries rigging.
Step 3: Ignores all facts and data.
Step 4: Defames institutions with zero proof.
Step 5: Hopes for headlines over facts.
Despite being exposed time and again, he shamelessly keeps peddling lies.
And, he is doing this because a defeat in Bihar is certain.
Democracy doesn't need drama. It needs truth," he posted on X.
Growth In Voter Roll Claim
According to Mr Gandhi, the number of registered voters in Maharashtra rose from 8.98 crore in the 2019 assembly elections to 9.29 crore in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls which is an increase of 31 lakh over five years. But within the next five months, ahead of the November assembly election, this figure reportedly jumped by another 41 lakh, reaching 9.70 crore, he claimed.
The BJP played down Mr Gandhi's additional voters' charge.
"This is normal procedure. A similar process was followed even before the Karnataka assembly elections, which the Congress won. Besides, Rahul Gandhi has himself quoted different figures at different times," said Mr Sinha.
The Election Commission attributed the increase to greater youth participation and a targeted campaign to enrol new voters. But Mr Gandhi dismissed this explanation.
