The Election Commission has formally responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls and invited him for an in-person meeting to discuss his allegations.
Dismissing his claims, the EC asserted that the electoral process was conducted strictly in accordance with laws passed by the Parliament and established rules.
The poll body said all elections are held strictly as per laws and candidates have presumably already moved court with issues about poll conduct and if the Congress leader still had any issues, he was welcome to write to the authority and the EC was also willing to meet him in person to discuss all issues.
Despite the poll body’s clarification on the issue, Rahul Gandhi again on Tuesday flagged alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, claiming that there weren’t isolated glitches but “vote theft” and demanded the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls as well as CCTV footage. The Rae Bareli MP shared on X, a media report which claimed that in just six months between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Nagpur South-West — the seat held by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis — added 29,219 new voters.
“In Maharashtra CM’s own constituency, the voter list grew by eight per cent in just five months. Some booths saw a 20-50 per cent surge. BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes,” the Congress leader said in his post.
“Media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address. And the EC? Silent — or complicit. These aren’t isolated glitches. This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession,” he said. “That’s why we demand the immediate release of machine-readable digital voter rolls and CCTV footage,” Rahul Gandhi added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday sharply responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims of voter list manipulation in the State, urging him to consult his party’s elected MLAs before making baseless accusations. In a post on X, Fadnavis even mocked Rahul saying, “Jhooth bole kauwa kaate.”
Fadnavis highlighted that over 25 constituencies in Maharashtra recorded more than an 8 per cent increase in voter numbers between the Lok Sabha elections and the State Assembly polls. Several of these constituencies, he noted, were won by Congress or its allies.
Fadnavis slammed Rahul for his communication style, saying he should have consulted his party’s senior leaders like Aslam Shaikh, Vikas Thakre, or Nitin Raut before tweeting such claims. He added that this would have prevented exposing the Congress party’s lack of internal coordination.
In its letter, the EC told Rahul, “We presume that any issue regarding conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law (high court) by Congress candidates.”
It further added, “However, if you still have any issues, you are welcome to write to us and the Commission is also willing to meet you in person at a mutually convenient date and time to discuss all issues.”
The poll body explained that the election process is carried out in a decentralised manner at the assembly constituency level.
It noted the involvement of more than 1,00,186 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), 288 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 139 General Observers, 41 Police Observers, 71 Expenditure Observers and 288 Returning Officers (ROs) appointed by the Commission. In addition, 1,08,026 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from national and State political parties, including 28,421 from the Congress, were deployed across Maharashtra.
“We presume that any issue regarding conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law (High Court) by the INC candidates,” the Commission wrote to the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
“However, if you still have any issues, you are welcome to write to us and the Commission is also willing to meet you in person at a mutually convenient date and time to discuss all issues,” the poll authority added.