Election Commission Slams Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Match-Fixing’ Claim
The Election Commission has strongly rejected Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of “match-fixing” in the upcoming Maharashtra elections, calling it “completely absurd” and citing a document from April to clarify its stand on the matter.
In reply to Rahul Gandhi’s claim of “match-fixing” in the upcoming November 2024 Maharashtra elections, the Election Commission has referred to an earlier document from April and called the Congress leader’s allegation “completely absurd.”
In an opinion article published in The Indian Express on Saturday, Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, raised new concerns regarding the conduct of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
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His alliance, which includes the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, experienced a significant defeat, winning only 46 out of 288 Assembly seats, while the BJP secured 132 seats and its allies gained an additional 98.
Gandhi alleged various irregularities, including the addition of fake voters to the electoral roll, inflated voter turnout, targeted bogus voting, manipulation of the Election Commission’s appointment panel, and suppression of evidence. He also expressed fears that similar issues could arise in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
In its response, the Election Commission noted that no serious complaints were raised by the Congress party or its polling agents during the elections.
The Commission stated,
“In every polling booth, the voting progressed in front of the polling agents formally appointed by candidates/political parties. Nominated candidates of the INC (Indian National Congress) or their authorised agents have not raised any substantiated allegations with regard to any kind of abnormal voting at the time of scrutiny before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Observers on the next day,”
Additionally, the Commission highlighted that there were very few appeals against the addition of voters to the rolls, indicating a lack of grievance.
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It said,
“After the finalisation of these Electoral Rolls during Maharashtra elections, as against 9,77,90,752 Electors, only a total of 89 appeals were filed before the 1st appellate authority (DM) and only 1 appeal was filed before the 2nd appellate authority (CEO). Therefore, it is amply clear that there was no grievance of INC or any other political parties before the conduct of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2024,”
The Commission criticized the unsubstantiated claims made by the Congress party, emphasizing that all political parties, including the INC, had appointed booth-level agents.
“Therefore, these unsubstantiated allegations raised against the Electoral Rolls of Maharashtra are affront to the rule of law. The Election Commission had brought out all these facts in its reply to INC on 24th December 2024 itself which is available on ECI’s website. It appears that all these facts are completely being ignored while raising such issues again and again.”
An Election Commission source remarked,
“More than 1 lakh booth-level officers of Maharashtra are still waiting for such wild allegations to be converted into at least a single real appeal in front of District Magistrates as per Section 24 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act 1950.”
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The Commission highlighted that Indian elections are conducted in accordance with the law, and their scale and accuracy are recognized globally.
It asserted,
“Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards law, but also brings disrepute to the thousands of representatives appointed by their own political party and demotivates lakhs of election staff who work untiringly and transparently during elections. After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised, is completely absurd,”
