Maharashtra polls 2024: Chennithala accuses EC of 'fraud', seeks CEC's resignation

Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday alleged that the Congress and its allies lost the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Election due to indulgence by the Election Commission calling it a fraud on election and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar news agency ANI reportedChennithala who was in charge of the Congress campaign in Maharashtra made the remarks amid a political row over the Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rolls and reports of objections raised by two Election CommissionersI was in charge of Maharashtra The Maharashtra assembly election was defeated by the Congress and allies because of indulgence by the Election Commission It was a fraud on election The two election commissioners raised objections 14 times but the Chief Election Commissioner did not take the issue into account The Election Commission lost its credibility It is high time for Gyanesh Kumar to resign from the Chief Election Commissioners position Chennithala told reportersHis remarks came as Congress units staged agitations across multiple states including Delhi Haryana Punjab Jammu and Kashmir Assam Uttarakhand West Bengal Uttar Pradesh Himachal Pradesh and Manipur demanding the CECs resignationSIR row and Election Commission objectionsThe protests come amid the ongoing political controversy over the SIR exercise following a newspaper report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months concerning decisions and procedures related to electoral rolls and database accessThe Election Commission has rejected the characterisation of these objections as institutional dissent The poll panel has said operational queries internal feedback and administrative suggestions are part of the normal functioning of a multimember constitutional bodyThe ECI has maintained that all final decisions concerning the SIR were unanimousBJP hits back at ChennithalaBJP leader CR Kesavan earlier hit back at the Congress pointing to Chennithalas own past comments on the SIR processKesavan said Rahul Gandhis claim that wherever there is SIR there is vote theft was contradicted by Chennithalas reaction after the Keralam Assembly Election results were announced on May 4Rahul Gandhi ridiculously claims that wherever there is SIR there is vote theft On May 4 2026 when the Kerala Assembly election results were announced the current Congress Home Minister of Kerala Mr Ramesh Chennithala lauded and appreciated how the SIR process had helped the Congress win by removing bogus votes from the electoral rolls Kesavan said in a post on XResponding to the claim Chennithala said the situation in Keralam was different because of the vigilance of political parties in the stateIn Kerala it was alright because we were very vigilant up to the lower level and Kerala is an exception because this kind of fraud will not happen because all political parties are all very vigilant here he saidUddhav Thackeray also targets CECEarlier Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray had also targeted CEC Gyanesh Kumar and demanded his removal alleging that the poll body had acted against his party during the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly ElectionsFor the past several days there has been a demand to remove the Election Commissions Gyanesh Kumar The real face of Gyanesh Kumar has come before the country Thackeray saidThe Election Commission gave the Shiv Sena symbol and name to the traitors Around 40 lakh voters names were added to the list before the elections and removed after the elections he allegedThackeray further claimed that such actions were being taken due to a hunger for power and called for elections in Maharashtra West Bengal and Karnataka to be conducted through ballot papers againMaharashtra Assembly Election 2024 resultsThe Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 resulted in a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Partyled Mahayuti alliance which secured 235 seatsThe BJP emerged as the singlelargest party with 132 seats while the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party won 57 and 41 seats respectivelyThe allegations by Chennithala and Thackeray come amid the wider political dispute over the SIR exercise and the Election Commissions handling of electoral rollsWith ANI inputs