Rahul Alleges EC-BJP Collusion To Steal Elections In Karnataka

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday detonated his "atom bomb" proof, citing an analysis of data from a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka from the 2024 general elections to allege that the Election Commission was colluding with the BJP to "steal elections".

While the BJP called Gandhi's poll fraud allegation a "conspiracy against democracy", poll officials asked the Congress leaders to back his claims with proof so that it can initiate "necessary proceedings" in the matter.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition said the Congress put together a team and collected "concrete evidence of vote chori" in six months. He showed "evidence" of fake voters and fake addresses added to the electoral rolls in various constituencies in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

In an online presentation, Gandhi said the Congress analysed the voter data of the Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central and its Mahadevapura Assembly segment from the 2024 general elections. He said in the Lok Sabha seat, the Congress got 6,26,208 votes, while the BJP got 6,58,915. The Congress won six out of seven segments but lost the Mahadevapura Assembly segment where it was defeated by over 1,14,000 votes.

The Congress leader then went on to claim that 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.

Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a slender majority and needed to "steal" only 25 seats to stay in power. He added that the BJP won 25 seats in the Lok Sabha polls with less than 33,000 votes.

The Election Commission was colluding with the BJP and helping them, Gandhi alleged, asking the EC to provide the data the Congress wants if it is not partaking in the crime.

The Congress leader said the foundation of the Constitution was based on the fact that one person gets one vote. “When we look at polls, the fundamental thing is how to secure the ‘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.

“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,” Gandhi said, adding that the exit polls go massively wrong and so do internal surveys.

Gandhi alleged that elections were “choreographed”, lasting months, when earlier, with minimal technology, the polls were conducted in the country together.

“Not giving a machine-readable voter list and disallowing CCTV footage by changing the law convinced us that the EC colluded with the BJP to steal elections,” the LoP claimed.

The Congress leader 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 (elections), 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.

Responding to Gandhi claims, the Election Commission, through the chief electoral officer of Karnataka, wrote to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and asked the Congress leader to share the names of electors he claimed were either included or excluded wrongfully from the voters' list of the state along with a signed declaration for the poll authorities to initiate "necessary proceedings" in the matter.

The Election Commission sources said Gandhi should either sign a declaration under the Conduct of Election Rules and submit the list of people who he claims were either wrongfully included or removed from the voters' list or he should "stop misleading" the people of India and "stop making baseless allegations" against the poll authority.

Hitting back Gandhi challenged the Election Commission to deny the data which he presented. He said: “I am saying this publicly, take it as my oath. This data is from the commission. They should say this data is false.”

Terming Rahul Gandhi’s allegation against the EC a “calculated deceit”, the BJP accused the Congress of “systematically” attacking the constitutional institutions under a larger conspiracy against India's democracy and the Constitution.

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

“Bayan bahadur Rahul Gandhi has completely lost his composure in the agony of losing power… 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.. After all, their family’s history is also filled with the dark chapter of the Emergency,” posted Pradhan on X.