The Congress on Saturday described the BJP’s Maharashtra seat haul as “inexplicable” and attributed the outcome to the machinations employed by the powers that be to bag the state where the ruling party has high stakes.

While the Congress did not reject the Maharashtra result the way it had refused to accept the equally surprising Haryana verdict last month, it sought to raise several questions on the integrity of the election process.

In Haryana, most poll pundits had predicted that the Congress would easily win the state. In Maharashtra, the surprise element is the scale of the BJP’s win — 132 out of the 148 seats contested — coming almost close to the majority mark of 145 seats on its own.

Briefing reporters late in the evening, Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh and spokesperson Pawan Khera came prepared to deal with questions on the inherent contradiction in welcoming the verdict in Jharkhand where the party had won in alliancewith the JMM and others and punching holes in the results from Maharashtra.

“They allow us to win some elections with a level-playing field in the hope that we will be silenced when they queer the pitch like in Maharashtra where the BJP has major stakes. We will not be silenced. We will ask the questions that need to be asked,’’ Khera said, drawing strength from the recent indictment of the Adani Group by the US department of justice.

“Just like no one believed what we said about Adani till now when the US department of justice has indicted them, a day will come when the Congress will be proved right about what we are saying about the way the Election Commission is functioning,’’ he added.

The way the BJP has reversed the results of the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year has particularly confounded the Congress. The Congress had bagged the maximum number of seats in Maharashtra then and the BJP had come fourth. “Just 5 months ago, when the BJP fought in the name of Modi and to make him the PM, Maharashtra rejected the party. And now the same party gets 132 out of 148 seats. Is Fadnavis more popular than Modi? Or is the electoral process questionable?” Khera posted on X.

The Congress critique does not take into account the nimble-footedness the BJP displayed after the Lok Sabha verdict in addressing the issues that worked against it in the state. The Congress, in contrast, continued to emphasise the attack on the Constitution, which was not perceived as an issue in an Assembly election as no state government can effect changes in it.