Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Jun 7: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday denounced the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, claiming democracy itself was “butchered” by electoral manipulation. His comments come in response to a hard-hitting article by Rahul Gandhi, where the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra elections — and warned that similar “match-fixing” could soon target Bihar and any state where the BJP faces defeat.
“Rahul Gandhi has laid bare the chilling truth,” Chennithala said in a statement. “The will of the people in Maharashtra was hijacked not by their votes, but through systematic subversion of democratic institutions. This is not democracy — it’s democracy on life support.”
As the AICC in-charge for Maharashtra, Chennithala pointed out that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — an alliance of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) — defied the “Modi wave” in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 30 of the state’s 48 seats. “Maharashtra’s people rejected the BJP’s propaganda, delivering a resounding verdict,” he said.
Yet, in the Assembly elections held six months later, the same MVA alliance, “which by all accounts was poised to secure over 170 seats, suddenly plummeted to just 46 seats out of 288,” Chennithala noted. Meanwhile, the Mahayuti alliance of BJP, NCP, and Shiv Sena bagged a staggering 230 seats.
“Are we seriously supposed to believe that this reversal was due to better governance or public sentiment?” he asked. “If even Prime Minister Modi couldn’t swing Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls, are we to believe that Eknath Shinde, with his history of opportunism, could trigger a political landslide?”
Chennithala called it a “calculated operation to distort the electoral mandate” and accused the BJP of a premeditated plan to subvert democracy. “This was not a defeat of democracy — it was its subversion,” he declared.
Rahul Gandhi’s exposé, he said, “is not just an article; it is a wake-up call.” Maharashtra, once a beacon of democratic values, has now become a cautionary tale about how power can be grabbed instead of earned, he warned.
“This is no longer about one state or one election; it’s about the soul of our democracy,” he stressed. “We urge the Election Commission to break its silence. Maharashtra — and all of India — deserves answers. Every citizen must stay vigilant, informed, and united. If we allow such subversion to continue, we risk losing not just elections, but the freedoms that define us.”
Meanwhile, Election Commission sources rejected Gandhi’s allegations as baseless and absurd. “The claims of rigging are absolutely false,” they said, dismissing the accusations as an attempt to defame the Commission after the electorate delivered an unfavourable verdict.