Mr. Gandhi has alleged that the Maharashtra Assembly elections were a “blueprint for rigging democracy”.
Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has already accepted defeat in Bihar. Hitting back at Mr. Gandhi’s “match fixing in Maharashtra polls” claim, Mr Fadnavis said Congress will win polls only when its leader understands facts on the ground.
Mr. Gandhi has alleged that the Maharashtra Assembly elections were a “blueprint for rigging democracy”. He further claimed that this pattern of electoral “match-fixing” would be replicated in upcoming elections, including those in Bihar and “anywhere the BJP is losing”. However, the Maharashtra CM said the Congress leader is not willing to accept the reality and lying to himself.
“Unless and until Mr. Gandhi acknowledges the ground reality, his party will never win. He must stop lying to himself in order to get false comfort and hopes. He will have to wake up and understand the reality. Otherwise, he will keep speaking nonsense, keep lying, and insulting voters,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
The Maharashtra CM further said that the Congress leader is not ready to accept his party’s decline and is trying to find excuses, which do not exist, for his party’s defeats. “I condemn Mr. Gandhi’s statement. He has insulted voters of Maharashtra,” he said.
However, the Congress leaders in Maharashtra have rallied behind their leader and announced “torchlight processions” across the state to “awaken the public” on June 12.
Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala said, “With irrefutable facts and unflinching clarity, Mr. Gandhi has exposed a chilling truth. The mandate of the people in Maharashtra was hijacked — not by the will of the voters, but through manipulation, deceit and a systematic assault on democratic institutions. When I assumed charge of Maharashtra in early 2024, the people of Maharashtra delivered a decisive verdict against BJP. The BJP’s loss in Maharashtra, along with its poor performance in Uttar Pradesh, was pivotal in preventing it from securing an absolute majority at the national level. And yet, merely six months later, in the Assembly elections, that same Maha Vikas Aghadi — which was poised to win over 170 seats — was reduced to just 50. Is it believable that this staggering turnaround was due to governance or public sentiment? Even the most loyal BJP supporter would hesitate to make such a claim.”
Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal also said that Mr. Gandhi has not made just a claim, but made a data-backed demand for an investigation. Announcing the “torchlight processions”, Mr. Sapkal said, “The credibility of the Election Commission is at stake and democracy itself is under threat. To awaken public awareness, the Congress party will organise torchlight processions across Maharashtra on June 12. I will participate in the march at Gadchiroli.”
