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Mumbai, June 8 (IANS) Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday debunked all allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about rigging and match-fixing in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

In his articles titled 'Those Rejected by the People Deny the Mandate', published in the same three newspapers where Gandhi's write-ups appeared, CM Fadnavis advised the Congress MP to "accept defeat, introspect on where you went wrong, why your connect with the people is lacking, and what needs to be done."

He taunted Gandhi, saying that the latter was preparing excuses for "defeats" in upcoming Bihar and other Assembly elections.

CM Fadnavis accused Gandhi of consistently insulting democracy and the people's mandate.

"The people rejected Rahul Gandhi, and in revenge, he rejects the people, pushing Congress deeper into the abyss," the Chief Minister said.

He challenged Gandhi to meet his party MLAs for a day and introspect on their statements.

"Continuously questioning democratic processes and constitutional bodies injects poison into the nation," CM Fadnavis warned.

"I understand the pain of defeat in Maharashtra, but if you insult the mandate of Maharashtra's farmers, beloved sisters, and common citizens, the people will never forgive you," he said.

Replying to Gandhi's claim of the rise in voting rate in the last hour, CM Fadnavis said, "If we look at the percentage of total voting throughout the day, the average hourly voting rate was 5.83 per cent. So what new are we saying by claiming that there has been an increase of 7.83 per cent in the last one hour? 5 to 6 p.m. is also the voting time, and everyone, who comes to the booth till 6 p.m., can exercise their right to vote, doesn't Rahul Gandhi know this?"

Replying to Gandhi's allegation, CM Fadnavis said, "Gandhi said that there was an increased voter turnout at 12,000 polling stations in only 85 constituencies, and most of these seats went to the NDA. However, Gandhi did not mention that there was an 18 per cent increase in Madha, where the candidate of the NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar group won, a 13 per cent increase in Vani, where the Uddhav Thackeray group candidate won and a 12 per cent increase in Shrirampur, where Congress won."

On Gandhi's charge about the rise in the number of voters, he said out of 40,81,229 voters in the Assembly elections, 26,46,608 voters were youth voters.

He further stated that "Between 2014 and 2019, 63 lakh new voters were added, 75 lakh new voters between 2009 and 2014 and 1 crore new voters between 2004 and 2009. So it's not surprising that something supernatural happened in 2024."

"The statistics also showed how much the number of voters increased between the two elections, the Lok Sabha and the Assembly. In 2004, 5 per cent more in the Legislative Assembly than in the Lok Sabha, 4 per cent more in 2009 and 3 per cent more in 2014, and 1 per cent more in 2019. It is 4 per cent more in 2024. So again, it's not like anything new happened in 2024," CM Fadnavis remarked.

--IANS

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