New Delhi: Hours after the Election Commission of India termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “industrial scale rigging” in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections as “unsubstantiated”, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha hit back by challenging the ECI to publish “consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls” of all the recent elections. In a post on X, Gandhi wrote:“If you have nothing to hide, answer the questions in my article and prove it by: Publishing consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states including Maharashtra Releasing all post-5pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling boothsEvasion won’t protect your credibility. Telling the truth will.” The row over alleged manipulation of electoral rolls has been a bone of contention between the Congress and the ECI ever since BJP sprung a surprise victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections, months after facing a humiliating defeat in the state’s Lok Sabha polls. Gandhi reignited the debate by publishing an op-ed in many papers, raising pointed questions about what he called stark “anomalies”, which included an unexpected spike of nearly 41 lakh voters between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls of Maharashtra – a majority of which were polled in favour of the BJP. He also said that the voter turnout after the ECI released a provisional turnout at 5 pm on the polling day increased unprecedentedly by 7.83 percentage points, equivalent to almost 76 lakh voters.The ECI responded soon, citing that most of these allegations were “unsubstantiated” and that it had already published clarifications on ECI’s website on December 24, 2024.“It appears that all these facts are completely being ignored while raising such issues again and again,” it said. “Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards Law, but also brings disrepute to the thousands of representatives appointed by their own political party and demotivates lakhs of election staff who work untiringly and transparently during elections. After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised, is completely absurd,” the ECI said, while publishing an unsigned and undated note that appeared to be its clarification. Regarding Gandhi’s allegation on the sharp increase in voter turnout after 5 pm on the polling day, the ECI contended that the spike amounted to “65 lakh voters” casting their votes in the last two hours, and that it was “much below the average hourly voting trends (58 lakh voters per hour)” through the day.The ECI said that voting happened in the presence of authorised polling agents of all parties across all booths. The Congress alone has 27,099 polling agents spread across polling booths in the Maharashtra elections. It added that no “abnormal voting” was reported by returning officers and election observers. It further said that out of the 89 appeals that were filed before the first appellate authority (district magistrate), only one appeal was followed up with the second appellate authority (chief electoral officer). “Therefore, it is amply clear that there was no grievance of INC (Indian National Congress) or any other political parties before the conduct of Maharashtra assembly elections of 2024,” the ECI said to counter Gandhi’s allegation on manipulation of electoral rolls. Importantly, it said that the revised electoral rolls were prepared as per the Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and a copy of which was already handed over to all political parties, including the Congress. However, Gandhi retorted to say that the ECI response was “evasive” and didn’t specifically answer the specific queries he made. He went on to ask that if the ECI had “nothing to hide”, it should release “all-post 5 pm CCTV footage” from all booths and show more transparency by publishing electoral rolls of all states, including Maharashtra. “You are a Constitutional body. Releasing unsigned, evasive notes to intermediaries is not the way to respond to serious questions,” he told the ECI.The Congress believes that merely comparing hourly averages may be misleading, as the allegation is regarding a sudden concentration of voters in the booths after 5 pm. Some of its leaders have also said that the party found anomalies after studying the voting patterns over a few months after the elections. By saying that the Congress did not raise a complaint during or immediately after the elections does not free the ECI from its accountability, the leaders believe. Gandhi also found support from its party leader Ramesh Chennithala, who is the Maharashtra in-charge for the Congress. “Rahul Gandhi’s powerful exposé is not merely an article – it is a wake-up call. It exposes how Maharashtra, once a proud torchbearer of democratic values, has become a cautionary tale of how institutions can be compromised, how power can be snatched instead of earned, and how silence can become complicity. This is no longer about one state or one election. It is about the soul of our democracy,” Chennithala said. “When I assumed charge of Maharashtra in early 2024, the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi defied the Modi wave in the Lok Sabha elections…And yet, merely six months later, in the Assembly elections, that same Maha Vikas Aghadi – which was poised to win over 170 seats – was reduced to just 50. Is it believable that this staggering turnaround was due to governance or public sentiment? Even the most loyal BJP supporter would hesitate to make such a claim,” he said, adding that what happened in Maharashtra was a “massive electoral fraud”. “It was a calculated and premeditated operation to distort the electoral mandate. Democracy in Maharashtra was not defeated – it was subverted,” Chennithala said. “We call upon every citizen to stay vigilant, stay informed, and stay united. For if we allow such subversion to go unchecked, we may soon lose not just elections – but the very freedoms that define us,” he said.The Congress has also claimed that contrary to the EC’s claim, the party sent two formal letters to it, on December 10 and February 7, on the Maharashtra voter list issue. A demand was also made on the floor of Lok Sabha by Gandhi on February 3, Professional Congress chairman Praveen Chakravarty posted on X.