Rahul Gandhi says alleged ‘match-fixing’ in Maharashtra polls ‘blueprint for rigged democracy’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday reiterated allegations that there was “match-fixing” in the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in November.

The state polls were a “blueprint for rigging democracy”, Gandhi claimed on social media.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance had defeated the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress, in the polls.

“It’s not hard to see why the BJP was so desperate in Maharashtra,” Gandhi said. “But rigging is like match-fixing – the side that cheats might win the game, but damages institutions and destroy public faith in the result.”

In the social media post, Gandhi also shared a column he wrote in The Indian Express on Saturday. In the article, Gandhi alleged that there had been an “industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions”.

The outcome of the Maharashtra polls was “glaringly strange”, Gandhi said, adding that the scale of the alleged rigging was “so desperate that, despite all efforts to conceal it, tell-tale evidence has emerged from official statistics, without reliance on any nonofficial source…”

A “step-by-step playbook” had revealed the rigging of the polls, claimed the Opposition leader.

How to steal an election?

Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy.

My article shows how this happened, step by step:

Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission
Step 2: Add fake voters to...

Read more