Congress to hold mashal marches across Maharashtra
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee will organise mashal (torch) marches across the state between June 12 and 14 to protest what it calls a systematic erosion of democratic processes under the BJP regime. The party has questioned the election commission's credibility and has hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for 'sidestepping serious concerns' raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged electoral manipulation.
Congress state vice president and former MLA Mohan Joshi announced the agitation on Tuesday, saying, 'Rahul Gandhi's recent newspaper article exposed the BJP's blueprint of vote theft in Maharashtra. It has rattled the ruling party. Instead of the Election Commission responding, Fadnavis jumped in with a reply that deflects from the core issue and misleads the people.'
In his article published Saturday, Gandhi had described the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections as a 'blueprint for rigging democracy,' alleging a pattern of electoral 'match-fixing' that could soon be replicated in Bihar. The Election Commission dismissed the claims as 'absolutely absurd' and accused Gandhi of defaming the institution after an unfavourable result.
Responding the next day, Fadnavis said, 'Rahul Gandhi consistently insults the democratic process. He repeatedly disrespects the public mandate. People have rejected Rahul Gandhi, and in retaliation, he is rejecting the people. This will only push the Congress party further into decline.'
Joshi, however, accused Fadnavis of avoiding the real concerns raised by Gandhi.
'Instead of addressing the serious irregularities, he launched a personal attack. Why is the chief minister responding on behalf of the Election Commission? That itself raises suspicion,' Joshi said.
He pointed out that Gandhi had questioned the process through which the Modi government amended the Constitution to remove the Chief Justice of India from the committee that appoints election commissioners, replacing the seat with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
'This move gave the ruling party complete control over the selection of commissioners—this is where the electoral fraud begins,' Joshi said.
He added that Congress governments had always followed a transparent process in appointing election commissioners, with no political interference.
'No one questioned the integrity of the commissioners we appointed. But Fadnavis, in his article, avoided these facts and instead chose to make shallow accusations,' Joshi said.
Joshi also raised concerns over the unusual spike in voter numbers during the 2024 Assembly elections and reports of polling continuing beyond official hours in certain constituencies.
'Fadnavis has deliberately ignored these issues. His silence on this reinforces doubts about the fairness of the process,' he said.
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