Nagpur: With the upcoming municipal polls in Maharashtra drawing near, the political heat is intensifying—not just on the campaign front but also over allegations of voter manipulation. A fresh controversy has erupted over the Kamthi (Kamptee) Assembly seat, following pointed remarks by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and rebuttals from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the state’s political landscape.
In a recent opinion piece in The Indian Express, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi questioned the integrity of the Election Commission’s voter data and alleged suspicious voter turnout patterns in several constituencies, using Kamthi as a prime example. Gandhi claimed that the BJP saw an unexplained surge in votes between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Kamthi, suggesting potential irregularities.
“Kamthi serves as a typical case study,” Gandhi wrote. “While the Indian National Congress polled a consistent number of votes—around 1.36 lakh in the Lok Sabha and 1.34 lakh in the Vidhan Sabha—the BJP’s numbers jumped from 1.19 lakh to 1.75 lakh, despite only 35,000 new voters being added to the rolls. It appears almost all new voters—and those who skipped voting earlier—voted exclusively for the BJP.”
However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the allegations, calling Gandhi’s claims “laughable” and selective. In a counter-article, Fadnavis pointed out that other constituencies like Madha, Wani, and Shrirampur also witnessed significant increases in voter turnout, yet were won by opposition parties including Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction, and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
“Rahul Gandhi is cherry-picking data to create a narrative. If higher turnout meant manipulation, why did Congress and its allies win in other high-turnout seats?” Fadnavis asked.
The Facts Behind the Kamthi Controversy:
The controversy deepened with Gandhi’s further assertion that the voter surge was focused in about 12,000 booths across 85 constituencies where BJP had performed poorly in the Lok Sabha polls. He linked this pattern to BJP’s subsequent gains in the Assembly elections. Yet, election officials and available data suggest a different story.
Kamthi falls under the Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency, which was contested by the Shiv Sena—not the BJP—in the general election. An official from the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Office clarified, “The BJP did not receive 1.19 lakh votes in Kamthi during the Lok Sabha polls, as the seat was not contested by them. The numbers being cited are factually incorrect.”
Moreover, Suresh Yadavrao Bhoyar, the Congress candidate from Kamthi, has not filed any official election petition challenging the result. While 112 election petitions have been filed across Maharashtra, only 28 come from the Congress—and Kamthi is not among them.
In fact, Bhoyar’s vote share increased from 1,07,064 in 2019 to 1,34,033 in 2024, indicating a positive trend for the Congress candidate, not an erosion.
What This Means for the Upcoming Elections:
With municipal elections around the corner, the Kamthi controversy is likely to become a flashpoint in the broader war of narratives between the ruling and opposition camps. While Gandhi attempts to highlight what he terms “voter magnetism” toward the BJP, the state government and election officials have countered his claims with electoral data and procedural transparency.
Political observers believe that controversies like Kamthi are not just about one constituency but are symptomatic of a larger trust deficit and political posturing ahead of critical polls in Maharashtra.
As Maharashtra braces for a heated electoral season, Kamthi may very well continue to dominate headlines—whether as a case of concern or a political red herring remains to be seen.
