Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha (LoP) and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made a big claim using electoral list data from Haryana, alleging that the assembly polls held last year, in which the BJP won and formed the government, were “stolen” and that 25 lakh entries were “fake”.
Since this is not the first time he has raised the issue of “vote chori”, questions have often been raised as to why the LoP has not approached the Supreme Court directly to address the allegations.
During a press conference, Rahul Gandhi was asked if he would seek any judicial intervention regarding the allegations of “vote chori” in Haryana.
His response was, “Everyone, including the Supreme Court, is watching. They have seen the Mahadevapura presentation. They have seen the Aland presentation. Now, they have seen the Haryana one.”
“Everyone can see this. It is not hidden. We are not doing it in a quiet room; we are doing it in front of the Indian media. This is their (Election Commission of India) data and not ours.”
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‘Vote chori’ in Haryana assembly elections?
{{/usCountry}}“Everyone can see this. It is not hidden. We are not doing it in a quiet room; we are doing it in front of the Indian media. This is their (Election Commission of India) data and not ours.”
ALSO READ | 'Gen Z has power to…': Rahul's big youth push to change system ‘rigged by EC, BJP’, triples down on ‘vote chori’ charge
‘Vote chori’ in Haryana assembly elections?
{{/usCountry}}During the presentation, Gandhi claimed that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the other two election commissioners worked together with the BJP to ensure that the party won in Haryana.
Using Haryana’s electoral data, the Congress leader claimed that 25,41,144 voters were fake, citing multiple examples of duplicate voters, bulk voters, and fake addresses. “Why is the Election Commission not removing duplicates? It is because if it does so, it would result in fair elections, and it doesn’t want fair elections,” Gandhi said.
“All polls pointed to a Congress victory in Haryana. The five top exit polls said Congress is sweeping. The other thing that was surprising was that for the first time in Haryana, the postal votes were different from the result. In postal ballots, Congress got 73 seats while the BJP got 17 seats,” he added.
Gandhi also pointed to an alleged Brazilian model’s picture being used for multiple voter IDs in the election.
“I want young people, Gen Z, to understand this clearly, as your future is being stolen,” he said, appealing to the younger voters of the country.
EC reacts to Rahul Gandhi’s claims
Election Commission sources told HT that Rahul Gandhi’s allegations are unfounded, and no appeals had been raised by the party before the elections.
The poll body also questioned whether Rahul Gandhi was supporting the special intensive revision of voter rolls “which removes duplicate, dead and shifted voters along with verification of citizenship” or opposing it.