Rahul Gandhi claims "match-fixing" in Maharashtra polls, says Bihar is next
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections were a "blueprint for rigging democracy" and this "match-fixing" would next happen in Bihar and "anywhere the BJP is losing".
Underscoring that match-fixed elections are a "poison" for any democracy, he said that the side that cheats may win the game, but it damages institutions and destroys public faith.
In a post on X, Gandhi outlined the alleged electoral irregularities in a stepwise manner — fake voters are added, voter turnout is inflated, bogus voting is facilitated, and evidence is subsequently hidden.
"How to steal an election? Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy," Gandhi said while sharing an an op-ed published in The Indian Express.
"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 the roll. Step 3: Inflate voter turnout. Step 4: Target the bogus voting exactly where BJP needs to win. Step 5: Hide the evidence.
"It's not hard to see why the BJP was so desperate in Maharashtra. But rigging is like match-fixing - the side that cheats might win the game, but damages institutions and destroys public faith in the result. All concerned Indians must see the evidence. Judge for themselves. Demand answers," Gandhi said.
"Because the match-fixing of Maharashtra will come to Bihar next, and then anywhere the BJP is losing," the former Congress president claimed in his post.
In his article "Match-fixing Maharashtra", Gandhi said, "Voter rolls and CCTV footage are tools to be used to strengthen democracy, not ornaments to be locked up. The people of India have a right to be assured that no records have been or will be trashed."
He said he doubted the fairness of Indian elections, "not every time, not everywhere, but often. I am not talking of small-scale cheating, but of industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions".
"But if some earlier election outcomes seemed odd, the outcome of the 2024 Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections is glaringly strange," he noted.
In his article, Gandhi alleged voter turnout figures were inflated.
"Election Commission data show that the number of registered voters in Maharashtra in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections was 8.98 crore, which rose five years later to 9.29 crore for the May 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But a mere five months later, by the November 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections, the number had leapt to 9.70 crore. A crawl of 31 lakh in five years, then a leap of 41 lakh in just five months.
"So incredible was this leap that the registered voter total of 9.70 crore was even greater than the 9.54 crore adults in Maharashtra according to the government's own estimates," he said in his article.
Pointing to inflation in voter turnout on polling day, Gandhi pointed out that "the polling turnout at 5 PM was 58.22 per cent. Even after voting closed, however, turnout kept increasing more and more. The final turnout was reported only the next morning to be 66.05 percent."
"The unprecedented 7.83 percentage point increase is equivalent to 76 lakh voters - much higher than previous Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra".
He also pointed to the adding of new voters in only 12,000 booths across 85 constituencies in the state, where the BJP eventually won.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
