Vote Chori: Congress questions Modi’s Varanasi victory, alleges BJP–ECI collusion

In a dramatic escalation of the ‘Vote chori’ debate, the Congress on 14 August, Wednesday, challenged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to share the voter’s list from Varanasi so it can prove electoral fraud there too.

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of winning the Varanasi seat through a “fake voter list” and alleging collusion between the BJP and the ECI, the Opposition party has demanded that the 2024 Lok Sabha results be nullified.

The impetus for this attack came from an unlikely source — BJP leader Anurag Thakur. While launching a counterattack on the Congress over the recent voter fraud allegations, Thakur inadvertently revealed that he had managed to obtain the electronic voter lists for six Lok Sabha constituencies in just six days.

Congress publicity chief Pawan Khera seized on the revelaton, saying: “It took us six months — working with paper records — to compile data for just one assembly segment in Bengaluru. Anurag Thakur got e-lists for six Lok Sabha seats in under a week. If this isn’t collusion, what is?”

At his press conference, Thakur on 13 August, Wednesday, alleged there were large numbers of “doubtful voters” in constituencies won by opposition leaders, including Rae Bareli (2.99 lakh), Diamond Harbour (2.69 lakh), Kannauj (2.51 lakh), Mainpuri (2.55 lakh), Wayanad (93,499) and Kolathur in Tamil Nadu (19,776).

Khera dismissed the findings as politically motivated, noting: “Earlier, vote theft didn’t seem to bother the BJP. Now suddenly, it’s their obsession — but only in opposition-held seats.”

The Congress leader directly targeted PM Modi, demanding the release of Varanasi’s electronic voter list.

“Modi was losing from Varanasi. Then, suddenly, he was ‘winning’. Give us the e-voter list, and we will prove that the prime minister’s chair was stolen,” Khera alleged in a press briefing, and then asked, “Where is election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in all this?”

“We know that the prime minister does not deserve to have won. Based on fake voters, he barely managed to win the Lok Sabha seat of Varanasi in 2024,” Khera agreed.

Khera claimed Thakur’s remarks had “exposed the BJP–ECI nexus” before the nation, concluding:

“The BJP’s own press conference proves the last Lok Sabha election was based on a fake voter list. If so, shouldn’t this election be nullified? The nation is now saying — ‘Vote chor, gaddi chhor’.”