DELHI: Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi on Friday he accused
Election Commission of “gaslighting citizens” after allegations emerged that marker pens were used to ink voters’ fingers in civic elections in Maharashtra, including the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) election.
“Trust in our democracy has collapsed due to the Election Commission’s harassment of citizens. Vote Chori is an anti-national act,” Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.
The issue sparked a political row after opposition parties claimed the ink could be easily wiped off, raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare dismissed the allegations, saying marker pens have been used in local elections in the state since 2011 and the ink is indelible.
The BJP criticized Rahul’s attack on the poll body and asked if he “accepted defeat” before the counting of votes ends.
“Bahana brigade back! Accept defeat before the count ends? Rahul is back to doing what he does best. Discredit, distort and misinform. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in a post on X.
The BMC election, held after a gap of eight years, recorded a voter turnout of 52.94%, according to figures released by the SEC on Friday. The elections were completed on Thursday.
The election of India’s richest municipal corporation was marked by allegations by the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance, which were later denied by the SEC. The previous BMC polls were held in 2017 and the term of the last elected mayor, Kishori Pednekar, ended in March 2022. The new election is expected to pave the way for Mumbai to get a mayor after almost four years.
According to the SEC, 54,76,043 voters cast their votes out of 1,03,44,315 registered voters. The voter turnout included 29,23,433 men, 25,52,359 women and 251 transgender voters in 277 districts. In absolute numbers, around 3.7 million more men voted than women.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the controversy and claimed the opposition was preparing excuses for an expected defeat. “The Election Commission has used marker pens several times in the past. I feel like some people are preparing to blame anything for tomorrow’s result,” he said.
