On Sunday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi strongly criticised the Election Commission of India, describing it as "compromised" and claiming that there is something "very wrong with the system."

During his official visit to the United States, the Leader of Opposition addressed the Indian community in Boston. He pointed to the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections as an example to support his claims, stating that the voter turnout numbers had been inexplicably increased within just a few hours. In response, the BJP criticised his comments, accusing the Rae Bareli MP of having an "entitled child syndrome." Gandhi claimed that more people voted in Maharashtra than the total number of adults living in the state. "More people voted in the Maharashtra Assembly elections than there are adults in the state of Maharashtra. The Election Commission provided us with a voting figure for 5:30 pm, and between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm, 65 lakh voters cast their votes. This is physically impossible to happen," he said.

Gandhi said that if each person took about three minutes to vote, polling stations would have needed to stay open until 2 a.m. to handle the numbers, but that didn’t happen. "When we asked them for the videography, they not only refused but they also changed the law so that now we are not allowed to ask for the videography," Gandhi added, casting further doubt on the process's transparency.  The Congress leader's comments are part of a growing trend where he criticises both the BJP and the Election Commission. He even accused the BJP of misusing the Election Commission while abroad.

In his speech, he called the Commission "compromised" and stated that "something is very wrong with the system." He said, "I have said this multiple times." After the 2024 Maharashtra elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's NCP, claimed that the Election Commission had manipulated the voter list. However, the Election Commission rejected these accusations, calling them "misleading" and "factually incorrect."

Gandhi's new criticism of the poll body led to a strong response from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which accused him of damaging India's democratic reputation internationally. BJP leader Jaiveer Shergill said, "Rahul Gandhi suffers from ECS - Entitled Child Syndrome. Insulting the nation and blaming Indian democracy to cover his failures is his addiction. He vents his political frustration on foreign soil."

BJP leader Pradeep Bhandari called Gandhi "anti-democracy and anti-India," saying that he questions India's electoral process from abroad because he "could not win the trust of the Indian people."

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also criticised Gandhi, accusing him of repeatedly undermining Indian institutions, including the Constitution and judiciary, whenever he travels abroad. Gandhi's remarks, according to BJP MP Sambit Patra, were a continuation of a long-standing trend. "This is Rahul Gandhi's old habit of insulting the country on foreign soil. He has been doing this for a long time...Those who are out on bail of Rs 50,000 think they can destroy the image of this great democracy," Patra said. 

Gandhi's Boston speech also touched on India-US relations; Gandhi is now in the United States on an official visit. "We have a partnership with the US, and hopefully, we will continue to work together," he said. He also thanked the Indian community for keeping the Congress party's ideals alive abroad, saying, "Thank you for carrying the flag here, it's a very powerful thing to do."