Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 24: Launching a broadside against the BJP and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for taking unilateral decisions ignoring the objections of the two election commissioners, the opposition parties led by the Congress and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, has demanded his immediate resignation accusing him of attacking the election system.
Mr Gandhi made the remarks while addressing a press conference in Delhi on Thursday reacting to a media report on objections raised by two Election Commissioners over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the electoral rolls and that some major decisions were being made in the name of the full Election Commission without their knowledge, several of which they called “unauthorised and illegal.”
Mr Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were one of key conspirators in “vote theft” and backing the CEC and said they “are going to be investigated” for this.
Reiterating that votes were being stolen, which renders the laws made by MPs illegal, Mr Gandhi termed Kumar a traitor, demanded his resignation and warned that the Congress would not remain silent and watch democracy in India “being destroyed.”
Pointing to statements by Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the BJP would remain in power for 30 years and that the NDA would cross 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress MP said no political leader could be so confident in a democracy because of “a fundamental force” called anti-incumbency.
The BJP hit back at Mr Gandhi calling his press conference a damp squib and describing him as a “frustrated leader who is not able to win people’s support through democratic means” “Loktantra ki chor Congress is frustrated as the Gandhi-Vadra family is democratically made to sit in the Opposition by the people of India,” said BJP Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.
Gandhi said the two Election Commissioners had done a “wise thing” by raising their objections and said he appreciated their actions. He also called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to become an approver, linking the demand to what he described as the need to protect democracy. “There are going to be consequences to this. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed. People responsible will be punished,” Gandhi said.
“The two ECs have done a wise thing. I appreciate it. Mr (Gyanesh) Kumar should turn approver. That would be an act of nationalism. We know what has happened and we’ll reveal it,” he added. “I demand Gyanesh Kumar to resign immediately, you did an attack on election system,” he said.
Gandhi said the Election Commission was the “institutional protector of the vote” and alleged that there was enough information to establish that elections in India were being rigged. “The Election Commission is the institutional protector of the vote,” Gandhi said.
“I have shown it with proof, and there is already more than enough information to make this a 100 % certainty that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 election, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged,” he added. Gandhi then referred to the concerns raised by the two Election Commissioners about Kumar.
“Gyanesh Kumar, two election commissioners, are raising questions on that man. I have been raising questions. Those questions were ignored. People of India believed it. But the institutional framework of India was not interested,” Gandhi said.
Talking about the anti-incumbency factor, Mr Gandhi said, “Indira Gandhi was at the height of her popularity after she won the Bangladesh war (in 1971) and then faced massive anti-incumbency and pressure within a year or two. The same thing happens to leader after leader, to Congress leaders and to regional parties. But, for some reason, it does not happen to PM Modi, Amit Shah and the BJP,” he claimed.
“Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years, but suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly that disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings, from the Samajwadi Party to the Bahujan Samaj Party, that also disappears. And this has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person. We can understand the performance of a government. But we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears,” he added. This question, he said, vexed the Congress for quite some time, until it came up with the answer – vote chori, or vote theft.
Gandhi then compared the absence of anti-incumbency, as he described it, with political systems that are not democratic. “Anti-incumbency does not exist in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It does not exist in North Korea. There is no democracy on this planet where anti-incumbency does not exist,” he said.
“Because from the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws are made. And from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain, and this chain defines modern India. The thing to understand here is that if the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. It no longer has its power, and it no longer functions. If our Constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. And if our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless. From vote chori comes kanoon chori, and from that comes sanstha chori (the theft of laws and institutions),” he asserted.
PM Modi and Home Minister Shah were “deshdrohis” (anti-nationals) as they have destroyed the vote in the country’s democracy, he said. Mr Gandhi played out a few videos and asked people to listen to the tone of PM Modi and Mr Shah. “In the videos, Shah is heard saying BJP will be in power for 30 years and the Prime Minister is raising the slogan ‘Abki Baar 400 Paar.’ No political leader who operates in a democratic environment can make such statements,” he added. “In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency which starts to resist and it does not spare anybody,” he said.
Gandhi also questioned the process through which Kumar was appointed Chief Election Commissioner. “Gyanesh Kumar was chosen by the Prime Minister of India, not by anybody less. He was chosen by Amit Shah,” Gandhi said.
“Now two election commissioners are saying that Mr Gyanesh Kumar is responsible for the chaos and the damage that has taken place to our voting system,” he added.
Gandhi also outlined a series of events that he said preceded the objections raised by the two Election Commissioners. “On 21st December 2023, a strange law was passed. A law was passed that makes the election commissioner immune to investigation. He is immune to the Indian legal system,” Gandhi said.
He then referred to a press conference on Maharashtra.
“On 7th February, we held our press conference on Maharashtra. We made it very clear that vote-chori is going on, and we put proof on the table,” he said. Gandhi said he later gave a dissent note to the Prime Minister of India, raising concerns about the process of selecting Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner. “My view is thrown aside, and the gentleman is appointed by the Prime Minister of India,” he said.
Gandhi said the Congress then presented what he described as evidence of “Mahadevapura vote chori,” claiming that more information subsequently began emerging. “We then show Mahadevapura vote chori. The pressure is slowly building because we are getting more and more information. Information is leaking from inside, and we are getting it,” Gandhi said. “Pressure is building up on the institution, and they are understanding that a problem is coming now,” he added.
Gandhi also referred to the “vote-chori adhikar yatra” on August 16 and September 1, followed by what he called “Aland vote-chori” on September 18. “Here, we show a certain methodology that is taking place. These letters that start, start after our Aland vote-chori and at approximately the same time as our Haryana vote-chori,” Gandhi said.
“The ECs knew this. They understood what was going on. But then they decided that something needed to be done. That is when these letters start,” he added.
Gandhi then referred to the Congress’s presentation on what he called “Haryana vote-chori.” “We do Haryana vote-chori, which frankly is the most devastating presentation because of the level of discrepancies that have taken place there. Now, the two gentlemen make it public,” he said.
Gandhi said the issue represented a wider challenge to the electoral system.
“The central question here is this is not just an attack on the vote; this is an attack on the idea, the basic infrastructure, and the expression of every single Indian person,” he said. “We have been saying it again and again and again that there is a problem with the vote,” Gandhi added.
Meanwhile, reports from Bhopal said the Madhya Pradesh Congress will hit the streets from Friday demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over what the party alleged were wrongdoings in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, state unit chief Jitu Patwari said. Speaking to reporters on Thursday (September 23, 2026), he said the Congress will ‘gherao’ (encircle) the office of the state’s chief electoral officer and hold protests outside collectorates.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) staged a protest in Delhi, demanding the arrest of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the electoral process and voter lists, and warned of nationwide demonstrations if its demands are not met. The protest was held in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote chori” and his demand for accountability of the poll panel. The NSUI alleged that serious questions had been raised over the electoral process and voter lists and demanded a “fair investigation”, transparency and accountability from the EC.
The Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday asserted that the Chief Election Commissioner can’t take decisions without consulting election commissioners, alleging that the CEC was being targeted as part of a “political campaign,” which shows the “frustration” of the Opposition and ‘dimagi (intellectual) Naxals.’ He maintained that the ECI functions as a collective body and all decisions have signatures of the CEC and the two election commissioners.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Saket Gokhale accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of withholding details of software and algorithm used for SIR of electoral rolls, citing an RTI response in which the poll panel said the information sought was related to “commercial confidence, trade secrets and intellectual property matters.”
In a post on X, Mr Gokhale shared his RTI application and the response from the Election Commission, and questioned why details of software used by a public authority were being withheld on grounds of commercial interests. “I’d asked the ECI about details of the software, who designed it, & who was given the tender. SHOCKINGLY, ECI has refused to disclose the details claiming it would ‘affect commercial confidence’,” he said.
“A software used by a public authority is being kept secret for “commercial interests”. Therefore, WHICH COMPANY’s COMMERCIAL INTEREST IS BEING PROTECTED?” he said. In his RTI application dated April 17, Gokhale had sought technical documents relating to the “Logical Discrepancy” module or algorithm integrated into ERONET for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, including its software and functional requirements, the logic and parameters used to flag discrepancies, procurement and development documents, testing and validation reports, file notings and instructions issued to electoral registration officers.