As Bihar gears up for its high-stakes Assembly election in November 2025, an alarming wave of scrutiny and scepticism is sweeping across India’s democratic landscape – ignited by a searing intervention from Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
In a widely circulated article published last week in multiple languages, Gandhi accused the BJP and its allies of engineering widespread electoral fraud during the 2024 Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. Describing it as “a blueprint for rigging democracy,” he cautioned that without urgent electoral reforms, Bihar could be the next victim.
“The same match-fixing will now be replicated in Bihar, and later, in every state election,” Gandhi wrote.
The fallout was immediate. Opposition parties quickly closed ranks behind the Congress scion, the Election Commission responded with bureaucratic defensiveness, and the BJP – particularly in Maharashtra – mounted a vociferous counteroffensive.
Yet beyond the flurry of accusations and rebuttals, Gandhi’s article struck a chord. It echoed a growing concern among voters and activists: that the electoral machinery – once the pride of the Republic – is now being steadily compromised.
The Maharashtra Model
At the heart of Gandhi’s critique is Maharashtra, where the BJP-led “Mahayuti” alliance returned to power in 2024 in a closely contested election. Gandhi claims that the results in dozens of seats were swung by last-minute “mysterious” surges in voter turnout, fake voter roll additions, and use of state schemes to influence the electorate.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut bluntly said:“The election was hijacked using the MukhyamantriLadkiBahin Yojana and the entire state machinery. The EC handed over our party to Eknath Shinde and the NCP to AjitPawar under Amit Shah’s pressure. The EC has become a caged parrot.”
He claimed that BJP couldn’t have won even 25 seats in the polls to the 288-member assembly, while Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and AjitPawar’s NCP would have managed less than 10.
In the polls held in November last year, BJP won 132 seats, followed by 57 for Shiv Sena and 41 for NCP. Congress won 16, Shiv Sena (UBT) 20 and NCP-SCP 10.
These comments harken back to fears first voiced during the 2019 general elections but which have become more urgent following the alleged scale and sophistication of the Maharashtra operation.
Congress cited startling numbers. Between May 2024 general elections and October Maharashtra Assembly polls, voter rolls swelled by 36 to 37 lakh new entries. By comparison, the same voter lists had only grown by 20 to 25 lakh in the preceding five years.
“This is not an administrative oversight – this is electoral engineering,” said Congress MP Pramod Tiwari. “The EC has failed to explain how voting surged in dozens of seats after 5 PM. It’s a murder of democracy.”
The EC’s Evasive Silence
The EC has so far avoided a formal rebuttal. Unnamed sources said they would respond only if Rahul Gandhi writes officially, and not via public op-eds. They also pointed out that Congress cancelled a scheduled meeting with EC on May 15.
Still, EC’s informal justifications have raised more questions than they’ve answered.
On the demand to release CCTV footage of polling stations during late voting hours – a time when sudden turnout spikes occurred – EC sources claimed that sharing such footage could infringe on “voter privacy.”
Critics have slammed this rationale. “When the credibility of the entire electoral process is at stake, citing privacy to block transparency is a non–sequitur,” said RJD leader Manoj Jha.
Moreover, EC’s silence on voter roll manipulation allegations has only emboldened the Opposition. Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, a prominent Dalit voice in the Congress, warned:“Many names of Dalit, Muslim, and OBC voters disappeared, while lakhs of new voters were added – all without explanation. We even suspect EVM tampering.”
These elections saw the misuse of money, police, administration, and agencies like the ED, CBI, and IT department. BJP governments are distorting the entire election process in every possible way.
A Looming Bihar Election Under Cloud
Against this volatile national backdrop, Bihar heads to the polls this November. Long hailed as the “cradle of democracy” for its rich electoral legacy, the state now faces growing apprehension that the Maharashtra model of alleged manipulation could be replicated – perhaps even more aggressively.
The concerns are not hypothetical. Congress and RJD have already raised red flags over suspicious voter deletions in Muslim- and Yadav-dominated urban wards in Patna and Gaya. Meanwhile, multiple reports suggest BJP has begun mobilising state resources to expand “welfare schemes” ahead of the vote – mirroring tactics seen in Maharashtra.
“We’re seeing a clear pattern – a calculated strategy of using administrative power, data manipulation, and psychological warfare to influence outcomes,” said CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya.
Rahul Gandhi’s article laid out concrete demands: real-time polling station data, public access to CCTV footage, publication of machine-readable voter rolls, and independent review of abrupt turnout spikes.
BJP Strikes Back
BJP has responded with fury. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis penned a counter–opinion titled “Rahul Gandhi’s Lies Can’t Undermine Democracy”, accusing the Congress of undermining the people’s verdict.
“Insulting the people of Maharashtra is a new low for Rahul Gandhi. He simply cannot digest defeat and is crying foul without any evidence,” Fadnavis wrote.
Yet, BJP’s hyper-defensive tone has left room for suspicion. “Why is Devendra Fadnavis replying to questions raised to EC? Has EC outsourced its job to BJP?” retorted Sanjay Raut. He added that EC’s actions over the past ten years are also a factor, not simply elections.
The Vote For Democracy’s analytical report “Conduct of Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Analysis of ‘Vote Manipulation’ and ‘Misconduct during Voting and Counting’, provides a comprehensive summary of the (mis)conduct of General Elections 2024 which claimed that because of EC’s alleged complicity BJP could have won 240 Lok Sabha seats and Odisha assembly elections. The VFD claimed 79 Lok Sabha seats rigged to favour the ruling party.
Statistical Anomalies Fuel Suspicions
Congress has promised to compile a white paper on Maharashtra and submit it to the Supreme Court, EC, and civil society watchdogs. Preliminary data presented by party leaders highlights stark anomalies:
In Kamathi Assembly segment, 35,000 voters were added within five months, while the growth in the previous five years was just 18,000.
In Farrukhabad (UP), which BJP won by a narrow margin in Lok Sabha polls, over 32,000 voter deletions were recorded – mostly targeting Muslim- and Yadav–dominated areas. One activist called it “targeted disenfranchisement.”
The human cost of such data-driven disenfranchisement was illustrated by the story of 28-year–old Zeeshan Salim Multani of Mumbai who was denied a voter ID twice, each time told he was “underage.”
“It’s not just about numbers – it’s about trust, dignity, and democratic agency,” said NCP-SCP MP SupriyaSule.
Toward Electoral Transparency?
Interestingly, media reports now suggest EC may release archival electoral roll data from 2009 to 2024 for Maharashtra and Haryana. If true, this would mark the first major institutional response to the Opposition’s repeated demands for transparency.
However, experts warn that without urgent legal and institutional reforms – such as a time–bound audit mechanism, statutory protections for booth–level agents, and independent electoral oversight – allegations of rigging could become a permanent feature of Indian politics.