Rahul Gandhi claims faulty ink enabled vote theft, but ECI denies, as BJP leads in Mumbai polls.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused India’s Election Commission of undermining democracy by allegedly enabling vote theft through faulty indelible ink, calling it "gaslighting" citizens. His remarks came during vote counting for Maharashtra’s civic body elections, including Mumbai’s BMC, amid claims the ink can be erased with sanitizers. The ECI launched a probe, affirming standard ink was used, while the BJP dismissed the allegations as politically motivated attempts to distract from an expected defeat. Early results show the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance leading, with a 52.94% turnout in the first BMC polls in eight years.