By The Sampadak Express
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has strongly rebutted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “match-fixing” in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, calling the claims “completely absurd” and devoid of evidence.
In an op-ed for The Indian Express, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha questioned the credibility of the electoral process, suggesting voter roll manipulation, inflated turnout, and irregularities in the appointment of election officials. His remarks came in the wake of a dismal performance by the opposition alliance comprising the Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena in the Assembly elections, despite outperforming the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier that year.
The alliance secured only 46 out of 288 seats, while the BJP-led coalition, including the rebel factions of the NCP and Shiv Sena, won a total of 230 seats 132 by the BJP alone and 98 by its allies.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mr. Gandhi also warned that similar issues could arise in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
EC Counters with Detailed Clarification
Responding to the charges, the Election Commission cited a previously issued document from April 2024 and reiterated that no formal complaints or substantial allegations were raised by the Congress or its polling agents during or after the voting process.“
All voting took place in the presence of duly appointed polling agents of candidates and parties,” the EC said in a statement. “No substantiated concerns were flagged during scrutiny before Returning Officers and Election Observers.”
The commission also emphasized the lack of appeals regarding voter roll issues, stating that out of nearly 9.78 crore electors, only 89 appeals were made to District Magistrates, and just one reached the Chief Electoral Officer.’
Disrespect to Rule of Law
Rebuking the Congress for what it called a pattern of “unsubstantiated allegations,” the EC noted that the party had appointed 27,099 Booth Level Agents in Maharashtra.“
These unsubstantiated allegations are an affront to the rule of law,” the commission said, adding that its response dated December 24, 2024, addressed all of these concerns and is publicly available on its website.
A senior EC official remarked, “More than one lakh booth-level officers are still waiting for even a single formal appeal to be filed under Section 24 of the RP Act, 1950.”
The commission further warned that spreading misinformation undermines public trust in the democratic process and disrespects the efforts of lakhs of election workers.“
India’s elections are globally respected for their scale, transparency, and accuracy. To claim the system is compromised following an electoral loss is not only misleading it is completely absurd,” the EC concluded.
