Rahul Gandhi alleges 'match fixing' in Maharashtra polls, BJP responds
PTC News Desk: The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed rigging in Maharashtra assembly elections to favour BJP.
Posting his op-ed titled 'Match-Fixing Maharashtra', Rahul Gandhi gave a step-by-step account of how he believes the Assembly election results were rigged, calling it "How to Steal an Election?"
"Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy," he wrote on X. In his tweet, Rahul further went on to claim that the BJP is looking to rig the Bihar Assembly elections, scheduled for later this year. "Because the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing," he wrote.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP implemented a calculated five-step strategy to manipulate the Maharashtra Assembly elections and their outcome. In his opinion piece, he argued that the Modi government amended the law for appointing Election Commissioners in 2023 to significantly benefit the Centre.
Describing it as an attempt to “rig the panel for the appointment of umpires,” Gandhi claimed that the revamped selection process is heavily skewed in the Centre’s favour. As per the amended law, the committee responsible for choosing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners includes the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition or the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha. The committee then forwards its recommendations to the President.
In response, BJP's IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, alleged that Rahul Gandhi's only aim is "not clarity" but "chaos." 'His repeated attempts to sow seeds of doubt and dissension in the minds of voters about our institutional processes are deliberate,' he wrote on X, while sharing the poll body's earlier dismissal of Rahul Gandhi's voter list claims in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, along with the date.
- With inputs from agencies
