The Election Commission on Saturday reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s demand for the release of CCTV footage of polling booths in the Maharashtra assembly election, saying the remark was “politically motivated”.
ECI sources told HT that the call for the public release of such footage may be politically motivated, aimed at harassing or profiling voters, especially in booths where a party performs poorly.
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The remarks from the poll body come just hours after Rahul Gandhi accused the ECI of “deleting evidence” after it instructed officials to ‘destroy’ CCTV, webcasting and video footage of the elections after 45 days.
In a post on X, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha alleged, “Voter list? Will not give a machine-readable format. CCTV footage? Hidden by changing the law. Election photos and videos? Now they will be deleted in 45 days, not 1 year. The one who was supposed to provide answers is the one deleting the evidence.”
He reiterated his ‘match-fixing’ jibe and said, “It is clear that the match is fixed. And a fixed election is poison for democracy.”
The Congress MP’s reaction followed the poll body’s instruction to its state poll officers to destroy CCTV, webcasting and video footage of the election process after 45 days if the results are not challenged in courts within that period. It cited fear of the creation of ‘malicious narratives’ with the help of electronic data.
“However, the recent misuse of this content by non-contestants for spreading misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome, has prompted a review,” it said, as per news agency PTI.
Earlier this month, Gandhi demanded a full public disclosure of key election data related to the Maharashtra assembly polls held last year. He alleged that the ECI gave an “evasive” response to serious concerns. Gandhi laid out steps for the Commission to take to restore its “credibility”.
He demanded that the poll body publish consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states, including Maharashtra, and that all post-5 pm CCTV footage from Maharashtra polling booths be released.
Gandhi had stated that the 2024 Maharashtra polls were a “blueprint for rigging democracy” and this “match-fixing” would next happen in the Bihar polls and “anywhere the BJP is losing”.
The EC had rejected the Congress leader’s claims, saying that defaming the poll body after receiving an unfavourable verdict from the voters is absurd.
