Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday intensified his “vote chori” (vote theft) allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI), claiming that there was large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi said his team had gathered “100 per cent proof” of irregularities. He asserted that around 25 lakh fake votes—roughly 12 per cent of the state’s electorate—were cast. He alleged a “systematic manipulation” designed to turn what he described as a clear Congress win into defeat.
Albeit, officials within the Election Commission dismissed Gandhi’s accusations, noting that no formal appeals had been filed challenging Haryana’s electoral rolls. They pointed out that only 22 election petitions were currently pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court out of 90 constituencies, suggesting limited disputes over the poll outcome.
“Haryana has two crore voters, and 25 lakh of them are fake,” Gandhi declared. He added that his team had identified 5.21 lakh duplicate entries in the voter lists. “That means one in every eight voters in the state is bogus,” Gandhi claimed.
Presenting a series of slides as evidence, Gandhi showcased what he described as blatant discrepancies, including one example where a Brazilian model’s photograph allegedly appeared multiple times in the rolls under names such as Seema, Sweety, and Saraswati—purportedly allowing votes to be cast 22 times.
He accused the BJP of running a “well-planned operation” to “hijack democracy.”
“All exit polls showed the Congress ahead in Haryana,” he said. “For the first time in the state’s history, postal ballots didn’t match the final results. A deliberate plan was executed to turn a Congress landslide into a BJP victory.”
Taking a dig at Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini, Gandhi referred to a post-election video of the CM. “Look at his smile and listen to what he says about the ‘vyavastha’ (arrangement). That was two days after the election, when everyone believed the Congress was winning,” he remarked.
BJP ‘Double Voters’ and Fake Addresses
Gandhi further alleged that thousands of BJP members and leaders were registered to vote in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
“For example, a BJP leader—vice-chairman of the Palwal Zila Parishad—has 66 registered voters at his house,” Gandhi claimed. “Another person has 500 voters listed under his address.”
He named several individuals, saying, “Dalchand, a BJP leader, votes in both UP and Haryana. Prahlad, a BJP sarpanch from Mathura, does the same. These cases are in the thousands.”
The Congress leader also highlighted anomalies involving addresses labeled as ‘House No. Zero’—a category reserved for homeless citizens.
“We found that many of those registered under ‘House No. Zero’ actually have permanent homes,” he said. “We verified this physically. The Chief Election Commissioner is misleading the people. This is no clerical mistake—it’s deliberate.”
‘Next Stop: Bihar?’
Gandhi insisted that his claims were backed by verified data and said he was challenging not just the BJP and the Election Commission but the credibility of India’s electoral system itself.
“Why is the ECI refusing to delete duplicate entries?” he asked. “If the list were cleaned up, elections would be fair. But they don’t want that. This is direct proof of how the BJP manipulates polls—with the EC’s support.”
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha warned that the same “sarkar chori” (stolen government) strategy would soon be repeated in Bihar, which goes to polls on Thursday.
Citing the recent voter roll revisions in Bihar, Gandhi alleged that thousands of genuine voters had been wrongly deleted. “People still live at those addresses, but their names have vanished from the list,” he said. “They ask why Congress workers don’t raise objections earlier—because the voter list is handed to us at the very last moment.”
Through his remarks, Gandhi signaled that the Congress would continue pressing its “vote theft” charge, framing it not merely as a state-level dispute but as a larger battle over India’s democratic integrity.
Also Read: AAP Alleges “Vote Theft” In Gujarat https://www.vibesofindia.com/aap-alleges-vote-theft-in-gujarat/
