E-Paper
Rahul alleges electoral fraud in K’taka, Bihar, Maharashtra
Rahul Gandhi claims electoral fraud in Karnataka, Bihar, and Maharashtra, alleging voter list manipulation and promising to raise concerns in Parliament.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged large-scale electoral fraud in Karnataka, Bihar and Maharashtra, and said the Congress-led INDIA bloc will make public its findings and raise the issue in Parliament and outside.
Gandhi claimed that a detailed investigation by his team into one Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka revealed evidence of voter list manipulation. “We picked one constituency and did a deep dive. It took six months to digitise the paper voters list. We found how the fraud is carried out, who votes, and from where new voters are brought,” he said.
He also referred to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, where the Election Commission has said that 1.8 million voters were found to be deceased and another 5.2 million were no longer residing at their registered addresses.
“It is not only about Bihar. In Maharashtra, one crore (10 million) new voters appeared and the election was stolen,” Gandhi said. He accused the Election Commission of denying access to voters lists and videographic records.
This is not the first time Gandhi has questioned the poll body and levelled allegations of “vote theft” against it. Last week, Gandhi had posted on X and accused the Election Commission of helping the BJP carry out voter fraud in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly polls. Gandhi had questioned the poll body’s neutrality and referred to earlier concerns raised about its handling of election results in Maharashtra. He asked whether the Commission was now functioning as the BJP’s “election theft wing” and said those exposing the exercise were being threatened with FIRs. He had also raised similar questions on Maharashtra’s election results through a detailed article authored by him.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on July 6 had defended the exercise, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as “no one was satisfied” with the current voter rolls.
Officials from the Election Commission shared a press release dated June 24 by Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in response to Gandhi’s allegations.
In the release, Maharashtra’s CEO said, “Electoral rolls are shared with all recognised political parties.” He added that during the 2024 revision, 19.27 lakh claims and objections were received but “only 89 appeals were received.” The EC had also written to Gandhi back then saying, “We presume that any issue regarding the conduct of elections would have already been raised through election petitions filed in the competent court of law.” It added, “If you still have any issues, you are welcome to write to us... [We are] willing to meet you in person.”
In a social media post later in the day, Gandhi said the INDIA alliance would continue to raise the issue. “We investigated one seat in Karnataka and found widespread voter fraud. In Bihar, the votes of SC, ST, OBC and minority communities are being removed. We will not stay silent. We will raise the issue from Parliament to the streets,” he said.
