A day after marker pens were used on electors’ fingers instead of indelible ink in the municipal corporation polls in Maharashtra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the Election Commission's gaslighting of citizens was “how trust has collapsed in our democracy”.

“Vote chori is an anti-national act,” Gandhi said on social media, commenting on a report about the poll panel’s response to concerns raised by the Opposition parties on the matter.

The State Election Commission on Thursday said that it would investigate the quality of the indelible ink in the marker pens used for the municipal polls, PTI reported.

“The probe into videos is [also] to ascertain whether the ink was applied on the finger while voting or in a mischievous way,” the news agency quoted State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare as saying.

Waghmare also said that in view of the row, the poll panel will not use marker pens for the upcoming zilla parishad elections and revert to the indelible ink.

The comment came after Opposition leaders, while the polling was underway in 29 cities of Maharashtra on Thursday, alleged that the markings made on voters’ fingers could be erased easily. This could enable bogus voting, the Opposition had alleged.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that Gandhi’s comment was an excuse for losing the polls.

The Congress and its allies were trailing in all major municipal polls in the state as the votes were being counted on Friday.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla asked whether the Congress leader was accepting defeat before the counting concluded.

“Rahul back to doing what he does best...discredit, distort & disinform,” Poonawala said on social media.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said on Thursday that there had been complaints about the use of marker pens. “If you use a hand sanitiser, the ink disappears,” Thackeray told reporters.

“The entire administration is working for the ruling party,” The Hindu quoted Thackeray as having alleged. “This isn’t a sign of good democracy. This isn’t what we call governance. Everyone should be alert. There’s a limit to misusing power.”

The supporters of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its ally, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena, “should keep an eye on those re-voting and wiping off the ink”, Raj Thackeray added.

Uddhav Thackeray alleged at a press conference that the Election Commission and the ruling coalition had colluded in the matter. “This is a murder of democracy,” he said.

Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani had said on Thursday that the administration will investigate complaints related to the use of marker pens. “Preliminary observation is that the ink on the nail is removable, but the ink on the skin doesn’t get erased,” The Hindu quoted him as saying.

In its initial reaction to the allegations on Thursday, the State Election Commission had said that attempting to erase the ink applied on an elector’s finger “and thereby trying to create confusion among voters is a malpractice”.

“Even if someone attempts to commit a malpractice by erasing the ink on the finger, the concerned voter cannot vote again,” it said, adding that safeguards are in place to avoid such a scenario.

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