Rahul Gandhi renews ‘vote theft’ charge, vows to make more revelations

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday unleashed a torrent of allegations against the BJP and the Election Commission, renewing his claims of widespread “vote chori” (theft) across multiple states and raising the stakes ahead of the ongoing Bihar assembly polls.

Speaking passionately at a rally in Banka and addressing the media, Rahul Gandhi painted a vivid picture of electoral malpractices that, he asserted, strike at the very heart of India’s democratic ethos.

The former Congress president alleged that BJP leaders who had already cast their votes in Delhi also exercised their franchise during the first phase of Bihar polling, raising serious questions about the sanctity of the process. Drawing from evidence presented in the Haryana assembly polls last year, he claimed that 25 lakh entries in the electoral rolls were fake and accused the Election Commission of colluding with the ruling party to ensure its victory.

Rahul Gandhi’s accusations were sweeping: from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to Gujarat, he alleged, similar manipulations had become routine, with voters being impersonated and multiple votes being cast under false identities. In a striking example, he claimed that a Brazilian woman’s identity was used to cast a vote in Haryana — a telling symbol, he said, of a system under siege.

“The Constitution guarantees one person, one vote, but the examples from Haryana show that this principle has been flagrantly violated,” Rahul Gandhi said, his voice ringing with indignation. “One woman was shown voting multiple times. Fake voter photographs, impersonations, and other irregularities were rampant. The BJP is defending the Election Commission, yet none of my claims have been denied.”

He warned that the malpractices were now being replicated in Bihar, and vowed to continue presenting evidence to the public, particularly to India’s Gen Z and youth, to reveal what he described as a systematic effort to “steal mandates”. “The process is ongoing. Narendra Modi became Prime Minister through vote theft — and soon there will be no doubt in people’s minds,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi also criticised the NDA government’s attempts to divert public attention through social media, pointing to the proliferation of short “reels” as a tool to distract citizens from pressing issues. “Reels are the addiction of the 21st century,” he remarked, highlighting what he sees as the erosion of political discourse in the digital age.

With a mix of evidence-backed claims and impassioned rhetoric, Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on Friday were both a resonant warning and a call to vigilance, portraying a narrative where the fight for democratic integrity is far from over and urging citizens to scrutinise every facet of the electoral process.

With PTI/IANS inputs