Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, in an op-ed in The Indian Express headlined “Match-fixing Maharashtra”, criticised the Election Commission after it dismissed allegations of rigging the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election. The Congress leader presented what he called “tell-tale evidence” in five pointers and said that the “fixing side might win a game, but irreparable damage is done to institutions and to people’s faith in the result”. He concluded that the “match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy”. For context, the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, won 235 out of 288 seats. The BJP alone had 132 seats, marking its best-ever performance in Maharashtra.

Reacting sharply to his piece, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that Rahul Gandhi is “troubled by electoral defeats” and that he is afraid of the upcoming panchayat polls in Maharashtra.

“Rahul Gandhi is troubled by electoral defeats. With these defeats, he keeps making such allegations to hide his own performance and the performance of his party,” Bawankule told news agency ANI.

He added, “If I ask Rahul Gandhi, when elections occurred in 2009, when there were governments of his party at the Centre and in the State, there were 7.29 crore voters in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha elections. After that, Maharashtra Assembly elections took place, and there were 7.59 crore voters,” before asking, “So, will we target the then Election Commission? Will we abuse the then Election Commission?”

Bawankule further added that Rahul Gandhi wants to “damage the election process”, citing it a “childish move”. He also suggested that he “sits and study” everything before speaking out, before “building a narrative” ahead of the Panchayat elections.

“I think, if Congress and Rahul Gandhi keep acting out like this, they will never be able to win. They are now disappointed because Maha Vikas Aghadi is breaking in Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray is going around with his own alliance, and Sharad Pawar is running his own agenda. So, Congress is fearful in Maharashtra, whether their parties (alliance parties) will continue,” he further said.

Rahul Gandhi, in his “Dear EC” post on X (formerly Twitter), asked the poll body to answer his questions and prove him wrong by “publishing consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states, including Maharashtra”. He further suggested that the Election Commission “release all post-5 pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths”.

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

“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,” Rahul Gandhi posted on X along with the op-ed.