Rahul alleges Bihar polls like Maha to be fixed, Nadda says electoral losses making him desperate

NEW DELHI:: Rahul Gandhi claimed on Saturday that the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections were a "blueprint for rigging democracy", drawing rebuke from BJP president J P Nadda, who accused the Congress leader of "cooking up bizarre conspiracies" in his desperation after losing a series of elections.

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The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged in an article in the Indian Express that this poll "match-fixing" would next happen in the Bihar elections and "anywhere the BJP is losing".

In a post on X, he said, "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 the BJP needs to win. Step 5: Hide the evidence."

Hitting back, Nadda said Gandhi's article is a blueprint for manufacturing fake narratives, owing to his sadness and desperation of losing election after election.

He said, "Here's how he does it, step by step. Step 1: The Congress Party gets defeated in election after election due to its antics. Step 2: Instead of introspecting, he cooks up bizarre conspiracies and cries rigging. Step 3: Ignores all facts and data. Step 4: Defames institutions with zero proof."

He added, "Step 5: Hopes for headlines over facts. Despite being exposed time and again, he shamelessly keeps peddling lies. And, he is doing this because a defeat in Bihar is certain."

Democracy doesn't need drama. It needs truth, Nadda asserted.

Gandhi said fixed elections are a "poison" for any democracy; and the side that cheats may win the game, but it damages institutions and destroys public faith.

In his article, Gandhi alleged that 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," Gandhi said.