Rahul Gandhi delivers a presentation on 'Vote Chori' during a dinner meeting with INDIA alliance leaders, today.
Democracy on Trial: Gandhi’s Proof vs BJP’s Defiance
New Delhi: A fierce debate over the integrity of India’s electoral process unfolded today as Congress party MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, levelled grave allegations of voter list manipulation during a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi. He also delivered a presentation on ‘Vote Chori’ during a dinner meeting with the INDIA alliance leaders, tonight.
Rahul accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “steal” the 2024 Bangalore Central Lok Sabha election through systematic fraud in the Mahadevapura assembly segment.
The BJP, through its national spokesperson Dr. Sambit Patra, a Member of Parliament (MP) and prominent party figure, swiftly dismissed these claims as politically motivated, accusing Gandhi of undermining constitutional institutions.
The ECI, tasked with ensuring free and fair elections, finds itself under intense scrutiny as its limited response fuels further controversy. Rahul Gandhi’s allegations are based on a “six-month investigation” by a Congress team, which manually examined over seven feet of paper records from the ECI due to the commission’s refusal to provide machine-readable voter lists. Focusing on the Mahadevapura assembly segment, where the BJP’s P.C. Mohan defeated Congress’s Mansoor Ali Khan by 32,707 votes in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, the team identified 1,00,250 fraudulent votes—approximately 15% of the segment’s 6.5 lakh votes. Rahul detailed five methods of manipulation: 11,965 duplicate voters, where individuals like Gurkirat Singh Dang appeared four times across different polling booths, and Aditya Srivastava was listed in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh; 40,009 fake or invalid addresses, including non-existent locations like “house number zero” or unverifiable entries with fathers’ names like “ILSDHFHUG”; 10,452 bulk voters at single addresses, such as 80 voters in a single-room house or 68 in a brewery; 4,132 invalid or missing photos, rendering voter identification impossible; and 33,692 misuses of Form 6, a document meant for registering first-time voters aged 18-23, but including cases like 70-year-old Shakun Rani, registered twice in two months and recorded as voting twice.
Rahul Gandhi presented “evidence” from the ECI’s Special Summary Revision (SSR) of April 4, 2024, and Right to Information (RTI) documents, arguing that these irregularities flipped the Bangalore Central seat, as Congress would have led by 82,000 votes without Mahadevapura’s skewed results, where the BJP secured a 1,14,046-vote margin. He extended his accusations to a nationwide pattern of electoral manipulation, citing Maharashtra, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh. In Maharashtra, he claimed one crore voters were added between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly) elections, with a suspicious surge in voter turnout after 5:30 pm, which he alleged was not corroborated by on-ground observations from polling booths. He pointed to unexpected swings in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, where exit polls, opinion polls, and Congress’s internal surveys predicted different outcomes, yet the BJP secured victories. Gandhi highlighted choreographed election schedules, including staggered voting phases in states like Uttar Pradesh (five phases) and Maharashtra (three to four phases), and last-minute date changes in Haryana and Karnataka, which he suggested facilitated manipulation. He also accused the media of creating narratives around schemes like Ladli Behna or events like Pulwama and Operation Sindoor to mask anti-incumbency, a phenomenon he claimed the BJP uniquely evades in democratic systems. Gandhi accused the ECI of obstructing transparency by providing non-machine-readable voter lists, preventing Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and planning to destroy Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) footage within 45 days, despite modern technology enabling indefinite data storage. He demanded digital voter lists for the past 10-15 years and CCTV footage, warning that failure to comply would implicate the ECI in a “crime against the Indian Constitution” and lead to consequences for polling officers when the opposition assumes power.
Dr. Sambit Patra, addressing a press conference on August 7, 2025, as documented in a BJP press release, rejected Gandhi’s allegations as “election rage” and a sign of political desperation. Patra, a surgeon-turned-politician and BJP MP from Puri, Odisha, argued that Congress failed to report irregularities through its 28,420 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in Maharashtra, despite the ECI’s invitations for dialogue in December 2024 and June 2025. He noted that a petition alleging Maharashtra election irregularities was dismissed by the Bombay High Court as an “abuse of the process of law” for lacking evidence. Patra challenged Gandhi to submit an affidavit verifying his data, criticising his claim that public statements constitute an oath. He accused Gandhi of disrespecting constitutional institutions, referencing past apologies on issues like Rafale, Veer Savarkar, and China-related remarks to question his credibility. Patra also condemned Gandhi’s comments on Pulwama and Operation Sindoor as unpatriotic, alleging they implied India orchestrated attacks for political gain. He emphasised that the ECI operates under constitutional guidelines established by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, urging Congress to pursue judicial recourse, which he claimed the party has failed to do effectively.
The ECI’s response, as outlined in its August 7, 2025, press note, emphasises its engagement with political parties, including a meeting with the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and 4,719 all-party meetings over 150 days, involving over 28,000 representatives. The ECI’s Bihar Special Summary Revision (SIR) 2025 Daily Bulletin, covering August 1-7, reported 1,60,813 claims and objections from parties, including 17,549 from Congress, 53,338 from the BJP, 47,506 from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and 36,550 from Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), with no disposals yet, as per the mandatory seven-day processing period requiring speaking orders for voter deletions.
The ECI has not directly addressed Gandhi’s specific allegations, though a Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) reportedly asked if he would swear an oath on his claims, which Gandhi dismissed, insisting the ECI’s own data—sourced from the SSR and RTI documents—proves his case.
Gandhi refuted the ECI’s claim that no political parties, including Congress, had appealed against voter list issues, citing four letters sent before the Maharashtra elections, multiple engagements, a press conference with Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) leaders on February 7, 2025, parliamentary speeches on February 3 and March 10, 2025, and an editorial article published on June 7, 2025.
The controversy raises profound questions about India’s electoral transparency. Gandhi’s evidence, drawn from ECI records, presents a compelling case of voter list manipulation in Mahadevapura, supported by specific examples like duplicate voters, fake addresses, and Form 6 misuse. His broader claims of a nationwide pattern—bolstered by Haryana’s narrow 22,779-vote gap across eight seats and the BJP’s 25 Lok Sabha wins with margins under 33,000 votes—remain unverified due to the ECI’s data restrictions. The ECI’s refusal to provide digital voter lists and its reported intent to “destroy” CCTV footage have intensified suspicions, particularly given the feasibility of long-term data storage.
The BJP’s counterargument, articulated by Patra, frames Congress’s complaints as selective, noting silence in states like Telangana and Himachal Pradesh where Congress won. Patra’s emphasis on judicial recourse and the ECI’s procedural adherence contrasts with Gandhi’s call for public awareness and opposition-led accountability, including a planned protest march in Bangalore and hints of election boycotts by allies like RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav.
As the SIR process continues in Bihar, the ECI’s response—whether to release digital voter lists or preserve CCTV footage—will be pivotal in addressing public trust in India’s democratic framework.
– global bihari bureau
