Rahul Gandhi claims proof of poll fraud, BJP-EC 'collusion'; calls it 'crime against Constitution'

NEW DELHI — Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in polls through collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, as he cited an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka and said it was "a crime against the Constitution".

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also said that the judiciary needs to get involved in this because "the democracy that we love so much, does not exist anymore".

Addressing a press conference at the AICC's Indira Bhawan headquarters here, Gandhi said what his party had collected through research was "criminal evidence" and alleged that the Election Commission was busy destroying such proof across the country.

He said over one lakh votes in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Karnataka were found to be fake, duplicate, bulk voters, with invalid addresses and new voters of over 90 years of age added with misuse of Form 6.

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He claimed that there was "vote chori" of 1,00,250 votes in the Mahadevapura segment, with 11,965 duplicate voters, 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.

"'Vote-chori' is an atom bomb on our democracy," he said in a post on X soon after the presser.

"I want the nation to know that there is a huge criminal fraud being perpetrated across the country. It is being done by the Election Commission and the party in power and we have given you crystal clear and undoubtable evidence here," he asserted.

"This is a crime that is being committed against the Indian Constitution, against the Indian flag. This is nothing less than that," he said, alleging poll rigging in various parts of the country.

Soon after the Congress leader attacked the EC, the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka asked Gandhi to share the names of electors included wrongfully in the voters' list along with a signed declaration for poll authorities to initiate "necessary proceedings" in the case.

The BJP too termed Gandhi's charges against EC a "calculated deceit" and accused the Congress of "systematically" attacking constitutional institutions under a larger conspiracy.

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

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

Gandhi also hit back at the Election Commission for demanding his signed declaration on his claims, saying he made the remarks publicly and they can "take it as an oath".

He claimed that the EC is "very scared" to attack him and did not act against him, as it knows that he is speaking the truth.

"I am a politician, what I say to the people is my word. I am saying it publicly to everybody, take it as an oath. Interestingly, they haven't denied the information.

"They haven't said the voter lists (shown by me) are wrong, they are saying Rahul Gandhi should say it under oath... they know the truth. We know you (EC) have done this across the country," the former Congress president said.

Making an online presentation at the presser, Gandhi said they analysed the voter data of the Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central and the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in it from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

He claimed that an internal poll survey indicated that Congress was expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka (in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections), but won nine seats. He said the party focused on seven unexpected losses and chose the Mahadevapura Vidhan Sabha constituency and took all data from the 2024 elections, sourced from the Election Commission.

Gandhi cited that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured 6,58,915 votes in the Bangalore Central seat, winning with a margin of 32,707.

"In the Mahadevapura assembly segment, the Congress received 1,15,586 votes, whereas the BJP garnered 2,29,632 votes.

"The Congress won all the Vidhan Sabhas except Mahadevapura, where the BJP swept and secured a victory margin of 1,14,046 votes. This seat significantly contributed to their election win, and the Lok Sabha result went in their favour on that seat," he said.

"This discrepancy is a huge imbalance. So, we started examining the details and discovered that approximately 1,00,250 votes were stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly," he claimed.

He questioned the EC's assertion of free and fair polls, saying "one lakh fake voters are there" in just one assembly segment.

"We are telling the people of the country, this is your future. The whole system is being stolen. This evidence is 100 per cent in black and white," the Congress leader asserted.

"We see there is a pattern, we are absolutely convinced that this crime is being done on a huge scale across the country in state after state. CCTV footage and voter list are evidence of crime and the Election Commission is trying to destroy it," he alleged.

"If the Election Commission now does not give us electronic voter data of the last 10-15 years, and if it does not share the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime," he said.

Gandhi also batted for the judiciary to get involved in the issue. "I think the judiciary needs to get involved in this. We need to understand what is going on. Because, what we love so much -- our democracy, doesn't exist."

"What is the difference between us and other places, it is the democracy, it's gone... if this is true," he said.

In a warning to those involved in perpetrating "electoral fraud", Gandhi said there are going to be consequences for every single polling officer who is doing this, whether at senior or junior level.

"One day, the Opposition is going to come to power and then you see what we do to you; because you are attacking the foundation of what our forefathers who fought for India's freedom built and we are not going to allow you to do that, no matter who you are," he said.

Gandhi said the foundation of the Constitution is based on the fact that one person gets one vote.

"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," he said.

Exit polls go massively wrong and so do internal surveys, Gandhi said.

"There is always a reason given by media for this lack of anti-incumbency, for opinion and exit polls going way off the mark, and for huge and unexpected victory margins for BJP. And these reasons are multiple – ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme, Pulwama attack, etc," he said.

Gandhi alleged that elections are "choreographed" these days lasting months, when earlier, with minimal technology, the polls were conducted in the country together.

"The Election Commission is not giving us data because they are afraid that what we did in Mahadevapura, we will do in the remaining Lok Sabha seats, and then the truth of the country's democracy will come out," he said.