After weeks of suspense surrounding a much-awaited political exposé, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi finally addressed the media yesterday. He doubled down on a familiar allegation: that the BJP is manipulating voter rolls to skew electoral outcomes. While the focus of the day was intended to be a dramatic unveiling, the message ultimately returned to the theme he has been hammering home in recent weeks, what he calls systematic “vote theft.”
As was reported by the Vibes of India, the press conference held in the capital saw Rahul Gandhi accuse the BJP of manipulating electoral rolls through centralised software.
He also alluded to instances of illegal deletions in a Karnataka Assembly constituency and alleged additions in a seat in Maharashtra. He was severe in his criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of shielding those he claimed were responsible for damaging Indian democracy.
A national newspaper has reported that the backdrop to this escalation includes Rahul Gandhi’s recent Voter Adhikar Yatra in poll-bound Bihar, which garnered significant public attention.
Many in Congress view this campaign as a well-executed and thoroughly researched effort to highlight alleged instances of electoral fraud. Gandhi reportedly described his evidence as “black and white.” However, despite the support, concerns remain within party circles that such aggressive messaging could undermine faith in the electoral process itself.
The report added that some Congress leaders aren’t quite convinced about the long-term implications of the campaign. Even some of Rahul Gandhi’s staunch supporters are unsure how long it can be sustained.
So far, the Congress has made no specific demands following the allegations.
A senior leader, the report said, explained that Congress was deliberately steering clear of legal proceedings to avoid a trap he believed the BJP was laying, where the issue could be declared sub-judice, stalling political discourse.
He stressed that it was Congress’s role to expose irregularities, while it was the responsibility of the Election Commission and the government to provide transparent counter-evidence, which he claimed they were not doing.
Several others in the party believe the Election Commission’s response has been insufficient.
The debate within the party also extends to the strategic value of focusing on vote theft as a central electoral theme. Some question whether it should overshadow other key issues Rahul Gandhi had previously championed such as social justice.
Earlier this year, during another leg of the Bihar campaign, Congress had focused on core concerns like unemployment, migration, and exam paper leaks under the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government.
However, the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, conducted just months before the election, shifted the Congress narrative almost entirely toward alleged voter roll manipulation. Leaders admitted that pursuing the matter in court could be risky. It could perhaps weaken the campaign.
Party insiders, the report added, suggest that the SIR issue is not resonating strongly with voters. In contrast, Prashant Kishor’s campaign is reportedly gaining traction among younger voters. It focuses on employment and education.
Rahul Gandhi has also repositioned the narrative by linking voter roll deletions to exclusion from welfare schemes. It has emerged that a broader campaign is being planned to emphasise this connection, along with a set of guarantees. However, party leaders warn that if this messaging lacks coherence, the Mahagathbandhan could miss a critical opportunity to challenge the Nitish Kumar administration.
There are concerns over the broader implications of his rhetoric. It’s held that Rahul Gandhi’s claims risked painting the entire democratic framework as compromised. Yet, there is belief that if 95% of the data is reliable, the overall integrity remains intact.
A former party leader believes Rahul Gandhi is deflecting attention from pertinent issues within the Congress such as organisational weakness and nepotism.
The leader argues that if widespread voter manipulation had occurred, it also points to a failure of the party’s grassroots machinery like booth-level agents who had to monitor election processes.
The leader questioned how a discrepancy involving one lakh extra votes could go unnoticed if the local Congress organisation was functioning effectively.
In general, the campaign on vote theft has found broader support within the party than some of his earlier efforts such as the “Chowkidar Chor Hai” slogan during the 2019 Rafael controversy, the Adani-Modi “nexus” accusations, or his push for a nationwide caste census.
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