How to steal election: Rahul Gandhi claims match-fixing in Maharashtra polls

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday launched a scathing attack, claiming that the Maharashtra Assembly elections were rigged to favour the BJP last year.

Posting his op-ed titled ‘Match-Fixing Maharashtra’ on X, Rahul Gandhi gave a step-by-step account of how he believes the Assembly election results were rigged, calling it “How to Steal an Election?”

“Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy,” he wrote on X. In his tweet, Rahul further went on to claim that the BJP is looking to rig the Bihar Assembly elections, scheduled for later this year. “Because the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing,” he wrote.

Rahul claimed that the BJP deployed a detailed five-step process to derail the Maharashtra Assembly elections and results. In his op-ed, he claimed that the Narendra Modi government brought in the amended act to appoint Election Commissioners in 2023 to heavily favour the Centre.

In what he called “Rig the panel for the appointment of umpires,” Rahul Gandhi claimed that the selection committee, under the new law, is heavily titled towards the Centre. Under the amended law, the selection committee comprises the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of Opposition/leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha. The selection committee, subsequently, recommends the name of the Chief Election Commission and/or the Election Commissioners to the President.

Wondering why a cabinet minister was placed instead of the Chief Justice of India inside the selection committee, Rahul Gandhi wrote: “Ask yourself, why would someone go out of their way to remove a neutral arbiter in an important institution?”

In the second and third steps, Rahul alleged that the voter lists were inflated with fake voters. He further questioned how the voter turnout increased by an “unprecedented 7.83 percentage points” — which, according to him, translated to 76 lakh votes — after the voting had closed.

In the final two points, Rahul went on to claim that the BJP targeted “bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win” and “hide the evidence.”

After the INDIA alliance swept the Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls, the results of the Assembly elections a few months later came as a shock to both Congress and poll pundits, who completely missed the BJP wave in the state. The BJP and its allies stormed back to power, winning 235 out of 288 seats.