New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday alleged that the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections were “match-fixed” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming they served as a “blueprint for rigging democracy” — a tactic he warned could soon be repeated in Bihar.
Taking to social media platform X, Gandhi shared an article he authored detailing what he described as the BJP’s step-by-step plan to “steal an election”. In the post, he alleged large-scale electoral manipulation, starting from influencing the panel that appoints the Election Commission to orchestrating bogus voting in select constituencies.
“How to steal an election? Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy,” Gandhi wrote, before listing what he called the “five steps to rig elections”.
- Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission
- Add fake voters to the roll
- Inflate voter turnout
- Target bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win
- Hide the evidence
Rahul alleges match-fixing
He likened the alleged rigging to match-fixing in sports: “The side that cheats might win the game, but it damages institutions and destroys public faith in the result.”
He then added that such electoral manipulation was not confined to Maharashtra. “The match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing,” he cautioned. “Match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy.” Bihar is set to go to polls later this year. Congress along with alliance partners would hope to defeat the Nitish Kumar-led NDA in the state.
He urged citizens to examine the evidence and “demand answers”, sharing a newspaper clip of his article published in a leading media outlet.
‘A return to paper ballots’
This is not the first time that the LoP raised the alleged malpractices in Maharashtra. He along with senior Congress leaders talked about the irregularities in the 2024 assembly elections in the state which BJP in alliance with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP won by securing over 230 seats.
Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also demanded a return to paper ballots, claiming that electronic voting machines (EVMs) put the opposition at a disadvantage and lacked transparency.
However, the Election Commission had firmly rebutted the allegations. Addressing claims of unusually high voter turnout in the final hours of polling, a senior EC official said: “During the Maharashtra elections, over 6.4 crore electors voted between 7am and 6pm. On average, about 58 lakh votes were polled every hour. Therefore, 65 lakh votes in the last two hours is well below the average.”
The Commission also emphasised that Congress polling agents were present at nearly every booth and raised no formal complaints either during scrutiny or with election observers.
