Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde on Thursday strongly dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s explosive allegations of electoral manipulation in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls.
Speaking to reporters near Panaji, Fadnavis slammed Gandhi’s remarks as baseless and laced with personal attacks.
“I feel he should get his brain checked,” Fadnavis said. “Either his brain has been stolen or a chip in his brain is missing. That’s why he makes such statements repeatedly,” he added.
Fadnavis was in Goa to attend an event as chief guest.
Echoing similar sentiments, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said Gandhi’s comments were nothing but an attempt to manipulate public perception.
“With such false allegations, Rahul Gandhi is trying to create a narrative. But the people will not accept it,” he told PTI.
Rahul Gandhi: “EC Colluded With BJP to Steal Maharashtra Polls”
Earlier in the day, addressing reporters at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi alleged that the 2024 Maharashtra election was “stolen” in favour of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance through collusion with the Election Commission.
“Not giving a machine-readable voter list convinced us that the EC colluded with the BJP to steal elections in Maharashtra,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
He further added that officials planned to destroy CCTV footage and claimed unusual voting spikes after 5:30 PM that weren't witnessed by party workers on ground.
“These two things made us believe with reasonable certainty that the Election Commission of India was colluding with the BJP to steal elections,” Gandhi asserted.
Mahayuti Swept Maharashtra Elections
In the November 2024 assembly elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide win, 230 of the 288 seats. The BJP alone bagged 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (57) and NCP (41).
In contrast, the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was decimated. Congress won just 16 seats, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) 10, and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) 20.
Karnataka Allegations Surface Too
Gandhi also pointed to alleged irregularities in a Karnataka constituency, citing over 1 lakh suspicious entries. His claims included:
11,965 duplicate entries
40,009 fake/invalid addresses
10,452 single-address voters
4,132 invalid photos
33,692 misuses of Form 6
The Karnataka CEO responded by asking Gandhi to submit a signed declaration identifying these excluded or invalid voters.
Gandhi’s retort: “What I say to the people is my word. Take it as an oath. This is their data, and we are only displaying it.”
