Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has levelled serious allegations against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), accusing it of manipulating the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections through a “five-step model” to rig the outcome.
Writing in an opinion piece for The Indian Express, Gandhi claimed the BJP orchestrated “industrial-scale rigging” and undermined constitutional bodies to secure its emphatic victory in the state. The NDA, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), bagged 235 out of 288 seats. The BJP alone won 132 seats — the party’s best-ever tally in the state.
“I am not talking of small-scale cheating, but of industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions,” Gandhi wrote.
He elaborated a five-point strategy allegedly employed by the BJP:
“Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission,
Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll,
Step 3: Inflate voter turnout,
Step 4: Target the bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win,
Step 5: Hide the evidence.”
Gandhi’s principal objection lies in the amendments introduced by the Centre in 2023 to the process of selecting Election Commissioners. The changes, brought about through the Election Commissioners Appointment Act, replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Minister on the selection panel.
"The decision to place a cabinet minister instead of the Chief Justice on the selection committee does not pass the smell test. Ask yourself, why would someone go out of their way to remove a neutral arbiter in an important institution? To ask the question is to know the answer," Gandhi wrote.
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The Election Commission has maintained that it continues to function independently and in accordance with the Constitution.
The BJP, in response, dismissed Gandhi’s accusations as “disgraceful”. Party spokesperson Tuhin Sinha said, “Rahul Gandhi is back to his disgraceful antics of demonising the country's institutions. These issues have been repeatedly addressed by the EC in absolute detail.”
Gandhi also raised concerns over the rise in the number of voters. He pointed out that the voter roll increased from 8.98 crore during the 2019 assembly elections to 9.29 crore ahead of the 2024 general elections — a growth of 31 lakh. However, between the Lok Sabha polls and the November Assembly elections, the figure allegedly swelled by another 41 lakh, reaching 9.70 crore.
The BJP brushed aside this claim. “This is normal procedure. A similar process was followed even before the Karnataka assembly elections, which the Congress won. Besides, Rahul Gandhi has himself quoted different figures at different times,” Sinha said.
The Election Commission attributed the increase to an uptick in youth enrolment and targeted awareness campaigns.
While the BJP and its allies celebrated their emphatic win, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which included the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), was left with just 50 seats — a massive blow for leaders who had already lost control of their party symbols and cadres in the preceding months.
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