Mumbai, Jun 8 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Sunday dubbed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi’s claims on the fairness of the 2024 state assembly elections an “evasive attempt to distract the public”.

A day after Gandhi’s write-up triggered a political slugfest between Congress and BJP, Fadnavis on Sunday debunked the electoral “match-fixing and rigging” allegations through a newspaper article, stating “Gandhi has dismissed mandate of people as they rejected him”.

Addressing a press conference, Sapkal demanded a narco test of Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S. Chockalingam and the then Additional CEO Kiran Kulkarni to “expose the truth behind the alleged “vote theft” in the assembly elections.

He demanded the Election Commission’s reply to the questions raised by Gandhi in an article published in the Indian Express.

“The BJP and Fadnavis were the prime beneficiaries of the vote theft. The Election Commission should respond,” Sapkal said.

He said the counter-reply given by Fadnavis is laughable and an evasive attempt to distract the public.

Sapkal said Fadnavis and the BJP alliance directly benefited from the vote manipulation and enjoying the spoils of power.

“Fadnavis should stop acting like a judicial icon. His governance bears resemblance to that of a corrupt police chief. His responses are weak, superficial, and fail to address the actual questions,” Sapkal claimed.

Fadnavis has responded to Gandhi’s claims through an article in The Indian Express, stating the Congress leader has been constantly “insulting” the democratic process and the people’s mandate.

“The people have rejected Rahul Gandhi, and in retaliation, he is rejecting the people and their mandate,” the BJP leader charged.

Hitting out at the Election Commission, Sapkal said the poll watchdog remains “silent” even though questions are being raised over its transparency and integrity.

“These are questions of democratic survival, and the Commission must answer them. However, it remains silent, denies CCTV footage, and quietly changes the rules,” Sapkal alleged.

Sapkal said Fadnavis mentioned the appointments of election commissioners (during the Congress rule), but he conveniently forgot that CEC T.N. Seshan was appointed during the Congress era.

“Seshan redefined the model code of conduct. But in Modi’s BJP era, the Chief Justice was removed from the selection panel and replaced with a Union Minister. Fadnavis’ article is a mere damage control exercise, probably written at the behest of his bosses in Delhi.

“His article doesn’t deserve a written rebuttal,” Sapkal added.

A day after Gandhi sought the Election Commission’s response, sources in the poll authority said Sunday the constitutional body would respond only if the Leader of the Opposition wrote to it directly.

“Is the Election Commission denying that media is the fourth pillar of democracy? The questions raised by the Congress and Rahul Gandhi deserve factual and objective responses from the Commission,” Sapkal said.

He alleged that Fadnavis made himself the guardian minister of Gadchiroli district due to a “lucrative mining racket” operating there. PTI MR NSK