The Congress’s rivals lashed out on Saturday against the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for alleging systematic rigging of the November 2024 Maharashtra elections, a claim also rebuffed by Election Commission officials who called it misinformation. Rahul Gandhi

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha published an op-ed on Saturday, claiming the Maharashtra polls were a “blueprint for rigging democracy” and alleging “industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions”.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde dismissed Gandhi’s claims as baseless, pointing out the inconsistency in the Congress leader’s position. “In the Lok Sabha elections, when Maha Vikas Aghadi won the elections in Maharashtra, they did not say anything. At that time, the EVMs and ECI were right,” Shinde told reporters in Thane.

BJP chief JP Nadda accused Gandhi of manufacturing “fake narratives” out of desperation following election defeats, saying the Congress leader was “cooking up bizarre conspiracies” and “defaming institutions with zero proof”.

Gandhi outlined what he termed a five-step rigging process: rigging the panel for appointing the EC, adding fake voters to electoral rolls, inflating voter turnout, targeting bogus voting where the BJP needed wins, and hiding evidence.

Election Commission officials, who did not want to be named, reiterated their stance of following laid-down procedures as per law, dismissing allegations of voter percentage spikes and substantial jumps in elector numbers.

One of these officials emphasised that electoral roll preparation for the assembly elections occurred under the oversight of over 100,000 booth level agents appointed by political parties, including 27,099 from the Congress itself.

“Instead of writing to the EC directly, it is very strange that Rahul Gandhi keeps approaching the media seeking answers to his doubts again and again,” said this top-level official. “After losing the match, blaming the referee has become the standard practice.”

EC did not respond to requests for a comment.

The official cited above added: “If there was an issue with the elector numbers, why were hardly any appeals preferred with the DM and the CEO under the Representation of the People Act, 1950?”.

The person cited above provided comparative data to counter Gandhi’s allegations, noting that Maharashtra’s 8.14 per cent elector growth between 2019 and 2024 was actually lower than other states. Jharkhand recorded a 13.40 per cent jump, Telangana saw a 16.16 per cent increase, and West Bengal had an 11.36 per cent rise during comparable periods.

On allegations of inflated turnout figures, the EC official explained that voter turnout data on the VTR App would logically increase after 5 PM due to logistical challenges. “Polling teams come from varying distances and face different logistical challenges, such as late-hour voting trends, difficult geographical and weather conditions, communication issues, and tough terrain,” this person said

Following the off-record responses by EC officials, Gandhi took to X at 6:56 PM on Saturday and wrote on the issue again: “Dear EC, You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions,” Gandhi posted, demanding the publication of consolidated, digital voter rolls and release of post-5 PM CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths.

“Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” he added.

With agency inputs