The Election Commission on Monday directed the chief electoral officers of states and Union Territories to set up webcasts for all polling stations to ensure improved monitoring of polling procedures.

The new directive came ahead of the Assembly elections in Bihar that are expected to be held in October or November. Earlier, the poll panel had mandated webcasting at minimum 50% of the polling stations and 100% webcasting of the stations identified as critical.

On Monday, the Election Commission said that it had issued instructions on the use of several “civil (non-force) measures” to keep a watch on the stages of the election, including webcasting on polling day, as an internal management tool to prevent vitiation of the process.

The poll panel said that while it had been decided that webcasting must be carried out in all polling stations having internet connectivity, “in shadow areas, suitable alternative arrangements of videography, photography, etc may be made”.

The instructions came days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 7 reiterated allegations that there was “match-fixing” in the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in November. The state polls were a “blueprint for rigging democracy”, Gandhi had claimed.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance had defeated the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress, in the polls.

In the social media post, Gandhi also shared a column he wrote in The Indian Express on June 7. In the article, Gandhi alleged that there had been an “industrial-scale rigging involving the capture of our national institutions”.