‘Fixed election is poison for democracy’: Rahul Gandhi trains gun on ECI

New Delhi: Crying foul over what he described as ‘fixed elections’, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned the impartiality of the Election Commission, hinting at alleged denial of information on the voters list, photo-video, or CCTV footage of the election.

In a post on X, Gandhi said, “It is clear – the match is fixed. And a fixed election is poison for democracy.”

Without referring to last year’s Maharashtra Assembly elections, which the Congress and its allies lost, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha alleged that attempts by Opposition parties to seek information on voter lists and CCTV footage of voting had run into a wall, raising doubts over the entire exercise being rigged.

“Voter list? Will not provide machine-readable format. CCTV footage? It was hidden by changing the law. Photo-video of the election? Now, not in 1 year, we will destroy it in 45 days only. The one from whom the answer was needed – is destroying the evidence,” said Gandhi, frowning over the revision of rules for the duration for which the ECI is mandated to preserve data and footage related to an election.

Earlier this month, Gandhi repeated his allegation of “match-fixing” in the November 2024 Maharashtra elections. However, EC sources said the matter could have easily been raised before officials of the poll panel when it invited the party.

The allegations were made in an article written by Gandhi for a newspaper.

On Saturday, the LoP again hit out at the ECI in a message on X and questioned the logic behind reducing the minimum period — from one year to 45 days — for which the poll panel is supposed to protect records related to voting.

Earlier, sources in the EC accused Gandhi and his party colleagues in the Congress for indulging in sensationalism through misinformation, while “developing cold feet” when invited by the EC to share their concerns over alleged poll rigging.

–IANS