Rahul Gandhi has intensified his accusations of widespread "vote-chori," alleging irregularities in as many as 48 Lok Sabha constituencies. Addressing Congress leaders, Gandhi claimed that these irregularities mirror the issues he previously highlighted in the Bangalore Central constituency.
Gandhi's allegations center around the premise that the Election Commission (EC) has failed to uphold the principle of "one man, one vote". He asserts that there are systemic irregularities in voter lists occurring at a national level, a fact that he claims the EC is aware of. Gandhi has been particularly critical of the EC for not releasing voter lists in machine-readable format, arguing that this lack of transparency enables electoral fraud. The EC, however, has maintained that voter rolls are available in PDF format but are withheld in machine-readable form to prevent misuse, citing privacy concerns and legal precedents.
In response to Gandhi's claims, the Election Commission has demanded that he either provide a formal declaration substantiating his allegations with evidence or issue a public apology. The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has specifically requested documents related to Gandhi's allegations of "vote theft" in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency. This request followed Gandhi's claim that 100,250 "fake votes" were created in Mahadevapura to favor the BJP, citing duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and other irregularities. The EC has also presented evidence challenging Gandhi's claims, stating that a preliminary inquiry found that one Shakun Rani, whom Gandhi claimed voted twice, denied doing so, and that the document he presented as proof was not issued by a polling officer.
The Congress party has launched a "Vote Chori" campaign, demanding transparency from the Election Commission in maintaining voter rolls. The campaign includes a website, votechori.in, where users can support the demand for machine-readable digital voter lists, report electoral fraud, and receive a digital certificate signed by Congress leaders. Gandhi himself has framed the issue as an attack on the foundational principle of "one man, one vote".
However, Gandhi has questioned the EC's demand for an oath, arguing that the data in question belongs to the EC, not him. He insists that the issue extends beyond a single constituency and affects multiple Lok Sabha seats across the country.
Within the Congress party, there have been some questions raised regarding Gandhi's "vote chori" allegations. KN Rajanna, the state cooperation minister in Karnataka, has questioned why the party remained silent about alleged voter list manipulation during its own tenure in power. Rajanna acknowledged that changes to the voter list did occur and played a role in the Prime Minister assuming office.
