ECI Denies Rahul Gandhi’s Rigging Claims, Says Polls Held As Per Law; LoP Alleges ‘Voter Theft’ In Maharashtra -

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Election Commission refutes Rahul Gandhi’s rigging accusations, asserting lawful conduct of Maharashtra polls. Despite this, Gandhi alleges “vote theft” and demands digital voter rolls and CCTV footage.

ECI Denies Rahul Gandhi’s Rigging Claims, Says Polls Held as per Law; LoP Alleges ‘Voter Theft’ in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: Today, on June 24, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has formally replied to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his allegations of electoral fraud in the 2024 Maharashtra elections.

The poll panel strongly denied the claims and said that every election is conducted according to the laws passed by Parliament and the established rules and procedures.

In an official email sent to Rahul Gandhi on June 12, the ECI responded to his article published in a prominent newspaper.

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The Commission clarified that the entire election process is carried out at the assembly constituency level in a decentralised manner and involves a large number of officials and representatives from various political parties.

To explain the transparency and scale of the election system, the ECI mentioned that more than 1,00,186 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), 288 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 288 Returning Officers (ROs), 139 General Observers, 41 Police Observers, and 71 Expenditure Observers were part of the poll process in Maharashtra. In addition, 1,08,026 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from national and state-level political parties were present, out of which 28,421 were from the Congress party.

The ECI also pointed out that any issues related to the conduct of the elections should have already been raised in court.

As stated in the Commission’s letter to Rahul Gandhi,

“We presume that any issue regarding conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law (high court) by the INC candidates.”

However, the Commission also welcomed further communication, saying,

“However, if you still have any issues, you are welcome to write to us and the Commission is also willing to meet you in person at a mutually convenient date and time to discuss all issues.”

Despite the ECI’s detailed explanation, Rahul Gandhi again raised concerns on Tuesday about what he described as vote rigging in Maharashtra.

He claimed that these were not random issues but a case of “vote theft” and called for transparency.

The Congress leader, who is now the MP from Rae Bareli and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, posted on X (formerly Twitter) referring to a media report.

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The report claimed that between the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the Maharashtra assembly elections — a gap of just six months — the Nagpur South West constituency, which is represented by BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, saw a sudden increase of 29,219 new voters.

Rahul Gandhi questioned this rise in voter count, saying,

“In Maharashtra CM’s own constituency, the voter list grew by 8 per cent in just 5 months. Some booths saw a 20-50 per cent surge. BLOs reported unknown individuals casting votes.”

He also criticised the Election Commission’s silence on the matter and said the findings reported by the media pointed to serious flaws in the voter verification process.

Gandhi alleged,

“Media uncovered thousands of voters with no verified address. And the EC? Silent — or complicit. These aren’t isolated glitches. This is vote theft. The cover-up is the confession,”

Concluding his post, Gandhi demanded greater transparency from the Election Commission and called for the release of key electoral data.

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he added,