Rahul Gandhi Raises ‘Maharashtra Poll Rigging’ Allegation
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Gaya in Bihar (Image INC India)
Questions Election Commission’s Neutrality Ahead of Bihar Elections
By AMIT KUMAR
NEW DELHI, June 7, 2025 – Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has reiterated his allegations of “Maharashtra poll rigging.” In articles published in both English and Hindi, Gandhi argued that the “Maharashtra Assembly elections had been rigged.”
“The whole game of election theft! The 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election was a blueprint for rigging democracy,” Gandhi said in a post on X on Saturday.
He claimed, “In my article, I have explained in detail how this conspiracy was hatched step by step:
Step 1: Take over the panel that appoints the Election Commission.
Step 2: Add fake voters to the voter list.
Step 3: Exaggerate the voting percentage.
Step 4: Conduct fake voting in targeted areas where the BJP needed to win.
Step 5: Hide the evidence.”
“It’s not at all difficult to understand why the BJP was so desperate in Maharashtra. But election fraud is like match-fixing — the party that cheats may win, but it weakens democratic institutions and erodes public confidence in the results,” Gandhi alleged.
The Congress leader has previously raised the issue of “Maharashtra Assembly election rigging” in the Lok Sabha, as well as at a press conference at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, where he appeared alongside leaders of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction).
Gandhi maintained that “12,000 polling booths were targeted, covering 85 Assembly seats in Maharashtra where the BJP won big.” He also reiterated allegations of a “massive 7.83% jump in the polling percentage after the official voting hours ended — against the past trend where the difference was typically around 1%.”
The crux of Gandhi’s argument lies in his claim of “fake voter additions” in the electoral roll between the 2024 Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra Assembly elections. “In five months, 41 lakh new voters were added to the electoral roll after the Lok Sabha elections. In the five years preceding the Lok Sabha polls, Maharashtra had added just 31 lakh voters,” Gandhi alleged.
He also criticized the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India from the panel selecting the Chief Election Commissioner. “This match-fixing is being done because the selection panel now has a government majority — with the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister holding a 2:1 edge over the lone Leader of the Opposition,” he claimed.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the Maharashtra Assembly elections with a thumping majority. Barring Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP also secured victories in Delhi and Haryana Assembly elections held after last year’s Lok Sabha polls.
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