Key Points
- Rahul Gandhi presented data alleging systematic voter list manipulation in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Haryana naming over 1 lakh fake/duplicate voters in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura seat alone.
- Congress alleges ECI refused to provide machine-readable voter rolls and erased CCTV polling footage, making scrutiny “intentionally difficult”.
- In Bengaluru Central, Congress claims loss by 32,707 votes was engineered through five methods of ‘vote theft’ including duplicate entries and fake addresses.
- In Maharashtra, over 1 crore new ‘mysterious’ voters were added within five months between LS and Assembly polls—far more than five-year averages.
- EC challenged Rahul Gandhi to file fraud details under oath, warning that false evidence is punishable by law.
- Congress blames these irregularities for defeat in both Karnataka and Haryana, while EC maintains it follows all legal procedures for rolls and review.
New Delhi: On August 7, 2025, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi dramatically escalated his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), releasing what he termed “concrete proof” of widespread voter list irregularities at a national press briefing.
Karnataka: ‘1 Lakh Votes Stolen’ in One Assembly Segment
Gandhi spotlighted the Mahadevapura seat in Bangalore Central, arguing that Congress’ internal review found:
- 1,00,250 irregular votes out of 6.5 lakh via:
- 11,965 duplicate voters (same name, multiple booths)
- 40,009 fake/invalid addresses
- 10,452 bulk voters at single addresses
- 4,132 with improper or missing ID photos
- 33,692 new voter entries through dubious Form 6 submissions
- He showed instances where commercial places (like a beer bar) were listed as residential addresses, and single voters appeared across multiple states and booths.
- “If Mahadevapura’s anomaly is removed, Congress wins the seat by over 82,000 votes,” Gandhi said, noting a striking difference: Congress’s 6,26,208 vs BJP’s 6,58,915 votes for Bengaluru Central overall, with BJP winning Mahadevapura by 1,14,000.
Maharashtra: Surge in ‘Mysterious’ Voters
Gandhi claimed more than 1 crore new voters were added in five months a number dramatically higher than previous years. He alleged this artificial spike was designed to “steal the election” in collaboration with the BJP and that the EC’s refusal to share digital voter rolls or machine-readable files was part of the cover-up.
Haryana: Voter List Gaps, Unanswered EC Queries
He pointed to significant name/address mismatches, missing photographs, and inflated turnout after 5pm. Gandhi insisted that in seats lost by narrow margins, these manipulations made the difference and declared, “The EC has not answered our repeated demands for full digital transparency”.
Congress’ Questions to the EC
Rahul Gandhi posed two urgent questions:
- Why doesn’t the EC provide electronic voter list data to parties?
- Why was there a sudden unexplained spike in turnout after 5pm, and why erase CCTV footage of polling stations?
He argued that the format provided (7 feet of paper per constituency, deliberately non-OCR) makes genuine audit impossible and accuses the poll panel of “obstructing scrutiny”.
EC Pushes Back, Demands Proof
The ECI and Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer responded by challenging Gandhi to submit a signed declaration under oath with specific names and data on alleged fake voters, warning that unsubstantiated claims could invite penalties under the Representation of People Act. The EC asserts that all voter roll processes comply with law and transparency requirements.
Rahul Gandhi concluded by demanding that India’s voter lists become fully transparent and digitally accessible for all political players, warning that the credibility of the country’s democracy is at stake. He pledged further legal and public campaigns for electoral transparency, while the EC insists on procedural rigor and has dismissed the Congress’ claims as “baseless unless filed formally with evidence.”
