In a newspaper article, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Maharashtra of “match-fixing” the 2024 elections and said it would occur again in the Bihar election.
In the midst of a controversy sparked by the Congress’s “match-fixing” claims in the 2024 Maharashtra elections, the state’s chief electoral office said Monday that the party and others were given annually updated electoral rolls during the draft and final stages last year and previously through a participatory process.
In a piece that appeared in The Indian Express, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi made the accusations and asserted that this will occur “anywhere the BJP is losing” including in the upcoming election in Bihar.
The Maharashtra chief electoral office said in a post on X that a collaborative process is used to update the electoral rolls every year.
The electoral rolls are freely distributed to recognized political parties, such as the Congress, during this yearly process, first at the draft stage and then again following finalization. Copies of the electoral rolls from the same exercises conducted in 2009, 2014, 2019, and 2024 were subsequently distributed to Congress and other political parties, the statement stated. “The public can also freely download a complete copy of the electoral roll used in the general elections to the Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra-2024, from the website.”
It stated that the district election officer also keeps a copy of the finalized electoral rolls, even for previous ones. “Any person, including INC, may apply to the concerned District Election Officer and obtain a copy of such retained electoral rolls, upon payment of the prescribed fee, in accordance with Rule 33 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” it continued.
According to the post, on May 22, the Maharashtra chief election officer reaffirmed this statutory position to a Congress MP who had requested a copy of the electoral records that had already been sent to the party during the 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 revisions.
