Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI), colluded with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “steal” the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Addressing the media, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha exposed "ECI's Vote Chori", stating that the refusal of the ECI to provide a machine-readable voter list raised concerns and led the Opposition to suspect foul play. “What is the crux of the problem? The voter list is the property of this country. The Election Commission refuses to give us the voter list,” Gandhi stated.
In addition, Rahul Gandhi cited irregularities in voter registration and turnout patterns, particularly the surge in numbers during late voting hours, as signs of electoral manipulation. “In Maharashtra, the addition of more voters in five months than in five years raised our suspicions and then a huge jump in voter turnout after 5 pm,” he said.
He contrasted the electoral performance of the Opposition alliance in the state elections versus the national elections held within months of each other. “In Vidhan Sabha, our alliance was wiped, and in Lok Sabha, our alliance sweeps. Very suspicious,” Gandhi remarked.
The Congress leader claimed that a staggering one crore new voters were added to the electoral rolls between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. “We found that between Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha, one crore new voters came into the game. We went to the Election Commission and wrote this article, and the crux of our argument was that the Maharashtra election was stolen,” he said.
Gandhi also raised concerns about the ECI’s alleged decision to destroy surveillance footage from polling day, calling the move “deeply suspicious.” “They said we are going to destroy the CCTV footage. This was surprising to us because there was a question in Maharashtra about a massive voting after 5.30 pm for the numbers to add up,” he said.
According to Gandhi, party workers on the ground reported no such late surge in voter turnout at polling stations. “Our people knew that in the polling booths, no such thing happened. There was no massive voting after 5.30 pm,” he added.
The Rae Bareli MP asserted that the combination of these irregularities, the refusal to share the voter list and the decision to destroy footage, provided the Opposition with “reasonable certainty” of electoral interference. “These two things made us believe with reasonable certainty that the Election Commission of India was colluding with the BJP to steal elections,” he said.
