Reiterating his ‘vote theft’ allegations against the BJP and the Election Commission of India (EC), Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday demanded that the EC immediately provide voter lists and video recordings from the past 10 years.
“BJP’s ideology goes against the Constitution of India. Every Congress leader and worker will protect it… The Election Commission should immediately provide us with the voter lists and video footage from the last 10 years,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the ‘Vote Adhikaar Rally’ in Bengaluru.
He repeated his claim that the Congress and its alliance partners were defeated in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election due to rigging.
“In the last election, a question arose. First, the Lok Sabha election took place, followed by the Maharashtra Assembly election. Our alliance won a significant number of seats in the Lok Sabha, but just four months later, the BJP won the Assembly election,” he said.
“This was very surprising. Upon investigation, we found that one crore new voters cast their votes in the Assembly election. Wherever these new voters appeared, the BJP won. Our votes didn’t decrease, but the votes of these new voters went to the BJP’s tally. That’s when we realised something was wrong,” he added.
The Leader of Opposition said that in yesterday’s press conference, he had conclusively proven that the Election Commission and the BJP were involved in vote theft. He cited a poll in Karnataka indicating that Congress would win 15-16 seats in the last Lok Sabha election.
“According to our polling, we were ahead in 16 seats. But we only won 9 seats, which raised doubts. We approached the Election Commission for voter lists and CCTV footage, but received no cooperation. Subsequently, the law was changed regarding access to these videos,” he said.
“We have always protected the Constitution of India. The voices of Ambedkarji, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel resonate in our Constitution. The teachings of Basavana, Narayana Guru, and Phule Ji also echo through it. Our Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to vote,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Friday asked Rahul Gandhi to either sign a declaration issued by the Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his “absurd” allegations, sources said.
ECI sources stated, “If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and stands by his allegations against the Election Commission, he should have no problem signing the declaration.” (Agencies)
