The Election Commission rejected the charges, calling them absurd and an attempt to malign the institution. EC sources told the media that no Congress candidates or their authorised agents had raised any credible complaints about irregular voting during scrutiny before returning officers and election observers. They said that the voter lists in Maharashtra, like elsewhere in India, are prepared according to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.The BJP also hit back strongly, accusing Gandhi of undermining democratic institutions and eroding public trust in elections. Party president JP Nadda dismissed Gandhi’s article as a “blueprint for manufacturing a fake narrative.” He accused Gandhi of spreading conspiracy theories and defaming institutions out of “frustration and desperation” over repeated electoral losses. “Congress gets defeated election after election due to his antics,” Nadda said. “Instead of introspecting, he cooks up bizarre conspiracies, cries foul, and defames institutions without any proof.”Responding to the EC’s source-based statements, Gandhi posted on X, “Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions. You are a Constitutional body. If you have nothing to hide, answer the questions in my article and prove it by: Publishing consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states including Maharashtra and releasing all post-5 pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths. Evasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will,” he said.Citing a rise in voter turnout, Gandhi said, “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.” He said the jump of 7.83 percentage points equals 76 lakh voters, much higher than in past Maharashtra assembly elections. Gandhi also highlighted that new voters were added in only 12,000 booths across 85 constituencies—seats the BJP went on to win.In response, EC sources said over 6.4 crore voters cast their votes in Maharashtra between 7 am and 6 pm. They noted that about 58 lakh votes were cast each hour on average, which means roughly 1.16 crore voters could have voted in the last two hours. “Therefore, the casting of 65 lakh votes by electors in two hours is much below the average hourly voting trend,” an EC official said.
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