Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Escalating his attack on the Election Commission of India, the Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday again accused the poll watchdog of colluding with the BJP to rig the Lok Sabha elections in the country by adding bogus voters to ensure majority for the NDA.
Alleging large-scale voter fraud in electoral rolls since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in collusion with the ECI, Mr Gandi gave example of one Assembly segment in a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka where he claimed over one lakh fake votes were added to enable the BJP to win the seat by a margin of about 32,000 votes even though the Congress candidate had comfortable majority in six other Assembly segments of the constituency.
Addressing an elaborate media conference in New Delhi, Mr Gandhi alleged that fake people were being added to voter lists and attempted to validate his point by showing the Karnataka electoral rolls. Responding to the Leader of Opposition’s allegations, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) asked Rahul Gandhi to provide details of doubtful voters.
Mr Gandhi slammed the ECI alleging that the elections in the country were being “choreographed” and presented Congress’ research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka. Mr Gandhi last week had promised to explode an “atom bomb” with evidences to prove “vote chori” (vote theft) by the ECI for the benefit of the BJP.
Mr Gandhi claimed there was a nexus between the BJP and the ECI and showed ‘evidence’ of fake voters and fake addresses added in the electoral rolls in various constituencies. Mr Gandhi said the Congress put together a team and collected “concrete evidence of vote chori” in six months.
If the ECI does not give us machine-readable data for the past 10 to 15 years and the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime, Mr Gandhi said. “The judiciary needs to get involved in this because the democracy that we love so much does not exist,” the former Congress president said.
Talking to the media through an online presentation, Mr Gandhi said the Congress analysed the voter data of Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central and the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in it from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Total votes polled in the Lok Sabha in Bangalore Central seat were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one. This seat wins them the election.” Mr Gandhi pointed out that while the Congress polled more votes than BJP in six out of seven segments, it lost in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in which it polled over 1,14,000 votes less than the BJP.
He claimed there was “vote chori” of 1,00,250 votes in the constituency with 11,965 duplicate voters in one Assembly segment, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters. “We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house,” the Leader of Opposition alleged.
Reiterating his claims on fake voters in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections, he alleged that the number of voters added to the list in the five months ahead of the polls was more than the people added in the last five years.
“Maharashtra, we weren’t able to tell the logic behind it. In Maharashtra and Haryana, we saw it right in front of our faces. We said publicly and told EC, more voters were added in five months than in five years in Maharashtra. More voters than the entire population of Maharashtra. Huge jump in voter turnout after 5 pm,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Alleging that is being committed throughout the country, he said this is a “crime against the Indian Constitution and the Indian flag.” Mr Gandhi said the Congress would like to remind the ECI that it was in the business of protecting elections. “When we look at polls, the fundamental thing is how to secure ‘one man, one vote’ idea. Are the right people allowed to vote? Are fake people being added? Is the voter list true or not?” he said.
He said “for some time there has been suspicion among the public. Anti-incumbency hits every single party, but the BJP is the only party that does not suffer anti-incumbency in a democratic framework,” he said. Exit polls go massively wrong and so do internal surveys, he said.
Mr Gandhi alleged that elections are “choreographed” these days lasting months, when earlier, with minimal technology, the polls were conducted in the country together. “Not giving machine-readable voter list and disallowing CCTV footage by changing the law convinced us that the ECI colluded with the BJP to steal elections,” he claimed.
He also alleged that the ECI was looking to “destroy” evidence of “vote chori” in the whole country. Claiming that the Congress had its doubts on a possible electoral fraud since 2023 Chhattisgarh elections, Mr Gandhi said it was confirmed in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The Congress and its alliance lost both the polls to the BJP. “I am a politician, and I am speaking to the people. Take this as an oath,” said Mr Gandhi, and added that, “The ECI hasn’t said that Rahul Gandhi is wrong.”
Moments after Mr Gandhi alleged large-scale irregularities in the electoral rolls in various States, the ECI asked him to submit the proof of claims of irregularities he had made. The Karnataka Chief Electoral office asked Mr Gandhi to submit proof of claims made on voter roll manipulation along with evidence shown at the press conference by the end of the day on Thursday.
In a letter to Mr Gandhi soon after he levelled allegations of vote fraud, the State poll officer said during a press conference in the national capital, “you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls… .” “You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated.”
The ECI later said Mr Gandhi was yet to respond to its June letter regarding his allegations of “election rigging” in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The EC said the Congress leader has not responded to an official invitation extended to him nearly two months ago. “Why? Is it because his media statements were baseless?” ECI sources asked.
In a letter dated June 12, the Election Commission had invited the Leader of the Opposition for an interaction regarding “rigging” in Maharashtra Assembly elections, which he raised in a write-up that he wrote for a newspaper on June 7. He had claimed that the same would be repeated in the Bihar assembly polls due later this year.