Rahul alleges poll fraud, BJP-EC ‘collusion’; BJP says ‘calculated deceit’, EC asks for oath on claims

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that a probe disclosed massive voter fraud in a Karnataka Assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha election and accused the Election Commission of colluding with the ruling BJP to steal elections.

His allegations, made at a press briefing at the Congress headquarters, evoked a sharp response as the poll body dared Gandhi to take an oath and submit a declaration that he had found irregularities in the voter list or withdraw his “fabricated evidence”. The BJP called the allegations “baseless” and said Gandhi has “lost his cool”.

The reversal of the INDIA bloc’s poll fortunes in the Maharashtra Assembly election just months after their strong show in the general election showed “something was not right”, Gandhi said. The INDIA bloc, which won 30 out of 48 Maharashtra seats in the Lok Sabha polls last year, could not even cross the 50 mark in the state polls just five months later.

“BJP does not suffer from anti-incumbency. Opinion polls suggested something, but the results were the opposite. Examples are Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. An ambience was created to explain the factors that led to the win: Ladli Behna, Pulwama, (Operation) Sindoor, narrative creation,” Gandhi said.

He said the Election Commission’s “choreographed schedule” for Assembly polls deepened the suspicion. “In Maharashtra, more voters were added in five months than in five years. In the Lok Sabha (election), our alliance wins. We face a drubbing in the Assembly polls. One crore new voters cast their votes in the Assembly polls. The Election Commission cites brisk voting at 5.30 pm. Our booth agents say no such brisk voting happened. Maharashtra was the first time we saw something was wrong,” he said.

Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission, instead of answering the Opposition’s questions, evaded replies. He said the poll body refused to provide digital voter rolls for them to check.

The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said their investigation focused on the Mahadevapura Assembly seat in Karnataka. “Our internal polling told us we would win 16 (Lok Sabha) seats in Karnataka, we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We chose one Lok Sabha, and our team decided we could only focus on one Vidhan Sabha (seat). So we focused on Mahadevapura.

“Total votes polled in the (Bangalore Central) Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakh. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. Then, we looked at Mahadevapura, where Congress got 1,15,586 votes and BJP 2,29,632. Congress won all Vidhan Sabhas, but this one. This seat won them the election. We found 1,00,250 stolen votes. Stolen in five different ways: duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, bulk voters at a single address. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house,” Gandhi alleged.

Some of the alleged irregularities, as enunciated in Rahul Gandhi’s presentation, point to same voter appears multiple times in voter rolls, same voter in multiple states, either the address doesn’t exist, or it’s mentioned as “0”, bulk voters at a single address and indistinguishable or microsized photo on voter IDs.

The LoP said the Congress analysis revealed 11,965 duplicate votes, 40,009 fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters with the same address, 4,132 invalid photos, and 33,692 instances of Form 6 misuse.

Giving details of “bulk voters” with the same address, he showed a photograph. “This is House no 35 … There is a single-room house where 80 voters are shown living: different names, different families. We sent people to check, and they got beaten up. And then there is another one … 46 voters all from different families living in a single bedroom house, and when we go there, they don’t exist. There were 40,009 such voters in the constituency.”

Targeting the Election Commission, Gandhi said, “They’re not in the business of protecting democracy anymore, they’re helping dismantle it. The umpire is on the other team. The judiciary needs to get involved in this because the democracy that we love so much does not exist.”

As Gandhi’s press briefing was on, the office of Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer asked the Congress leader to submit a declaration seeking an investigation into the state’s electoral roll.

The BJP termed Gandhi’s allegation of poll fraud against the Election Commission a “calculated deceit” and accused the Congress of “systematically” attacking the constitutional institutions under a larger conspiracy against India’s democracy and the Constitution.

The ruling party also accused Gandhi of insulting the “discerning decision” of the people of the country by calling its election victory a “fraud” and said the voters will continue to reject the Congress for such “irresponsible and shameless” character and conduct.

Gandhi has made allegations against the poll panel out of “frustration and anger” because people are not giving their mandate to the Congress, the BJP charged as it slammed the Congress leader for adopting “double standards” over the election results and asked him to understand that his family’s victory is not the definition of democracy.

Condemning the Congress leader’s remarks, BJP MP and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition, has made irresponsible and shameless comments.” He has called the Election Commission a fraud, crossing all limits of “shamelessness”, the BJP leader charged.

“Narendra Modiji has been winning elections since 2015, and you (Rahul Gandhi) are calling that also a fraud. You are insulting the people of the country who voted for Modiji for his work, honesty and progress of the country under his leadership,” Prasad told reporters at the Parliament House complex.

Prasad said that Gandhi was attacking the EC out of “frustration and anger” because people are not giving their mandate to the Congress and will continue to do so after his brazen allegations against the poll panel.

“People will not vote for you (Congress) due to your such behaviour, character and conduct,” Prasad said.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused Gandhi of insulting the “discerning decision” of the people by attacking the Election Commission.

“The ideologically hollow Congress party is systematically attacking constitutional institutions. It cannot be ruled out that there is a larger conspiracy against India’s democracy and Constitution behind this calculated deceit,” Pradhan said in a post on X.