Rahul Gandhi seeks voter rolls, CCTV footage of Maharashtra polls after EC denies rigging charge: ‘Evasion won’t protect your credibility’

Rahul Gandhi seeks voter rolls, CCTV footage of Maharashtra polls after EC denies rigging charge

The war of words between Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) intensified on Saturday over his claims of poll rigging in Maharashtra.

“Dear EC, You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions. Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” the Congress leader wrote in a post on X.

In his post, Gandhi asked the EC to publish consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states including Maharashtra. He also sought the release of all post-5pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths.

His comments came after the EC objected to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations regarding the Maharashtra polls, describing it as “unsubstantiated”.

“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 the 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...,” the EC statement read.

It further said that spreading misinformation is "disrespect towards law," and attempts to defame are "completely absurd."

"Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards the 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," read the reply.

Sharing his op-ed published in The Indian Express, Rahul Gandhi took to X and said that the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls was rigged in favour of the BJP. He further claimed that the scenario would be repeated in the upcoming Bihar polls.

Gandhi also explained a five-point process in this direction. He said that step one includes rigging the panel that appoints the Election Commission, followed by adding fake voters to the electoral roll. He further claimed that the next steps include inflating the voter turnout, targeting the bogus voting exactly where the BJP needs to win and hiding the evidence.