'Elections are choreographed': Rahul Gandhi's big claim against EC, BJP

Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale voter fraud in Karnataka's Mahadevapura, claimed Election Commission colluded with BJP; claims over 100,000 fake votes cast

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission is working with the BJP to manipulate election results. Presenting data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, Gandhi claimed that "vote chori" (vote theft) had taken place on a large scale, calling it a "crime against the Constitution".

 

During a media address at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi said the Congress had set up a team to investigate suspected irregularities and gathered “concrete evidence of vote chori” over six months.

 

He demanded access to machine-readable voter data from the past 10-15 years and CCTV footage from polling stations. "If the EC does not give us machine-readable data for the past 10-15 years and the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime," Rahul Gandhi said.

 

 

"The judiciary needs to get involved in this because the democracy that we love so much does not exist," he added.     

 

Focus on Mahadevapura: Allegations of 100,000 fake votes

 

Rahul Gandhi presented an analysis of voter data from the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, particularly the Mahadevapura Assembly segment. According to Gandhi, in the Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central, the Congress polled 626,208 votes while BJP got 658,915 votes — a winning margin of 32,707 for the BJP.

 

Despite Congress winning six out of seven Assembly segments in the constituency, Gandhi further pointed to a massive lead of over 114,000 votes for the BJP in Mahadevapura. This, he claimed, turned the seat in BJP's favour.

 

'Elections are being choreographed’: Rahul Gandhi

 

The Congress MP described the entire electoral process as being "staged". "Elections are choreographed... Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine," he said. The Congress focused on seven unexpected losses and zeroed in on Mahadevapura for a detailed analysis, he said.

 

"We found 100,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, there is no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he added.

 

Rahul Gandhi pointed to invalid photos and misuse of Form 6, which allows new voter registration, as methods used for vote tampering.

 

He alleged that 100,250 votes were fraudulent, citing:

 

• 11,965 duplicate voters

• 40,009 voters with fake or invalid addresses

• 10,452 bulk voters listed under single addresses

• 4,132 voters with invalid photos

• 33,692 voters registered using misused Form 6 for new voter applications     

 

Concerns over polling schedule and voter turnout

 

Rahul Gandhi raised concerns about how elections are now held in multiple phases, unlike earlier when they were completed in a single day. "There was a time in India with no EVMs; people voted on one day. Now, UP has a different voting day, and Bihar has some other day. Voting goes on for a month. This made us suspicious," he said.

 

He also flagged sudden changes in polling dates for Karnataka and Haryana as suspicious.

 

Referring to the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Gandhi said the number of voters added to the rolls in five months exceeded those added in the last five years. "In Maharashtra and Haryana, we saw it right in front of our faces. We said publicly and told EC, more voters were added in five months than in five years in Maharashtra. More voters than the entire population of Maharashtra. Huge jump in voter turnout after 5 pm," he alleged.   

 

  The Congress MP claimed there was a discrepancy between Lok Sabha and Assembly results, with 10 million new voters added at the state level, which altered the outcome.

 

(With agency inputs)