Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘match-fixing’ in Maharashtra elections, says Bihar is next; BJP hits back

New Delhi:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a blistering attack on the BJP-led NDA over the November 2024 Maharashtra assembly election results, accusing the saffron party of orchestrating a “match-fixing” strategy to secure its unprecedented victory. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance which includes the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 235 of the 288 seats.

 

The BJP alone bagged 132 seats, marking its best-ever performance in the state.

What Rahul said on election rigging

In an op-ed published in The Indian Express, Gandhi alleged that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) deployed a five-step blueprint to undermine the democratic process.

“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,” Gandhi wrote in a social media post alongside a clip of his article.”

 

 

What were the Maharashtra election results?

While the BJP swept the polls, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) — was left with only 50 seats. The defeat dealt a heavy blow to Thackeray and Pawar, both of whom had lost control of their parties and election symbols earlier in the year.

Gandhi alleged that the scale of manipulation was not marginal but “industrial,” involving the capture of key national institutions. He particularly criticised the changes introduced through the 2023 Election Commissioners Appointment Act, which replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection panel for Election Commissioners. According to Gandhi, this change gave the executive undue influence over the poll body.

“The decision to place a cabinet minister instead of the Chief Justice on the selection committee does not pass the smell test. Why replace a neutral arbiter with a political appointee?” he questioned in the op-ed.

The Election Commission has rejected the allegations, maintaining that it operates independently and in line with constitutional provisions.

Match fixing will come to Bihar next

Further ramping his attack, the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition called upon Indians to deeman evidence, claiming the rigging is coming for the Bihar elections next.

“All concerned Indians must see the evidence. Judge for themselves. Demand answers. Because the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing. Match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy,” he wrote.

BJP hits back with ‘undermining democracy’ jibe

The BJP also hit back, with party spokesperson Tuhin Sinha dismissing Gandhi’s claims as “disgraceful” and accusing him of routinely undermining the country’s democratic institutions. ‘

“These issues have been repeatedly addressed in detail by the EC,” Sinha said.

Voter roll surge under scrutiny

Gandhi also flagged a sharp rise in the number of registered voters in Maharashtra. Citing electoral data, he noted that the voter count increased from 8.98 crore in the 2019 state elections to 9.29 crore during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — an addition of 31 lakh over five years. However, he claimed that within the next five months leading to the assembly elections, another 41 lakh voters were added, taking the total to 9.70 crore.

The BJP has downplayed the allegations, offering no direct response to the claim of irregularities in the voter list but defending the integrity of the electoral process.