Baramati (Maharashtra) [India] June 8 (ANI): Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule defended Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi against the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday.

Sule stated that in a strong democracy, everyone has the right to express their opinion. While speaking to the reporters, Sule says, 'After Rahul Gandhi wrote that, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis also wrote a long piece in the newspaper. In a strong democracy, everyone has the right to express their opinion. What Rahul Gandhi wrote was because he hasn't received replies from the Election Commission for all the letters he has written so far.'

Sule also addressed the waterlogging issue at Hinjawadi IT Park, stating, 'Every two months, I take a development review of Hinjawadi. Sharad Pawar started Hinjawadi, and today, 6 lakh people are directly or indirectly employed over there,' Sule added, 'Because of all the development happening there over the last two years, open areas have been closed, and water flow has been blocked.'

She alleged that buildings have been constructed on drains and said, 'Buildings have been built on drains, and we have been fighting the government about this for the last 2 years.'

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Maharashtra assembly election held in November 2024 was 'rigged' and claimed the same could happen in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.

In a post on X, Gandhi shared his article published in a newspaper, explaining the 'rigging' in the Maharashtra assembly polls. 'Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy. My article shows how this happened, step by step,' Gandhi said on X.

The former Congress President explained a five-point process. He said that step one includes rigging the panel that appoints the Election Commission, followed by adding fake voters to the electoral roll. He further claimed that the next steps include inflating the voter turnout, targeting the bogus voting exactly where the BJP needs to win and hiding the evidence.

'Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission;

Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll;

Step 3: Inflate voter turnout;

Step 4: Target the bogus voting exactly where the BJP needs to win;

Step 5: Hide the evidence,' Gandhi said.

He further labelled rigging as 'match-fixing,' saying that while the cheating side might win, such actions damage institutions and destroy public trust in election results. (ANI)