| Part of Democratic backsliding in India | |
| Date | 7 August 2025 - present |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Vote Chori Controversy |
| Type | Politics in India |
| Cause | Alleged irregularities by the Election Commission of India |
| Motive | Alleged rigging of 2024 Indian general election |
| Perpetrator | Election Commission of India (alleged) Bhartiya Janata Party (alleged) |
On 1 August 2025, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, stated that his party Indian National Congress (INC) found evidence of electoral fraud during the 2024 Indian general election. On 7 August, he alleged that the electoral rolls prepared by the Election Commission of India for the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka consisted of various discrepancies, and accused the commission of systematic fraud in collusion with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Election Commission of India dismissed the claims as baseless and urged him to make the allegation by signing a declaration the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. On 17 August, the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, further stated the claims be made under a declaration under oath under seven days, after which the claims would be considered "baseless and invalid".
Various protests and social media campaigns have been conducted by the opposition parties, led by the Congress, since then in connection with concerns on the electoral rolls prepared by the Election commission. Members of the BJP have defended the commission, while alleging that the Congress is using it as an excuse for the defeat in the elections. Bharat Rashtra Samithi also accused the Congress of indulging in electoral fraud in the 2023 Telangana elections.
The INC had previously accused the Election Commission of India and Bharatiya Janata Party of co-ordination and also accused of rigging elections in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. [1] [2] On 1 August 2025, Rahul Gandhi alleged electoral fraud during the 2024 Indian general election and compared the evidence as "Atom bomb", further stating that the ruling party will have "no place to hide" after the presentation of the evidences. [3] [4] [5]
The Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh condemned the allegations stating the leader of the opposition should not engage in delivering baseless accusations on a constitutional body like the election comission. [6] The Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had asked Rahul Gandhi to present the evidences regarding the fraud and asked the opposition to not to mention the election commission related topic in the parliament citing Jakhar Balram the former speaker who had previously exempted a discussion on the election commission. [7]
On 7 August, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission of India had added fraudulent voters to the electoral roll and accused the commission of rigging the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, where Congress had lost the elections by 1,14,000 votes despite victory in six other segments. [8] Rahul Gandhi accused the commission of systematic fraud, citing figures broken down into five categories. [9]
Rahul Gandhi presented the following figures on a presser stating that these figures led to the defeat of the opposition in the constituency. He further stated that the evidences were a result of a six month long research conducted by the party. He queried the election commission to publish a electronic voter list to debunk his claims. [10]
Dipankar Sarkar, a resident of house no. 35, the alleged house which hosted 80 voters was a 10 feet high buliding. Officers from the district election office had arrived at the location for querying about the 78 other voters in the residence however the officers later confirmed the unavailability of the 78 voters in the buliding. [11] Many voters were reported to have invalid father names such as "dfojgaidf" as well as Rahul Gandhi cited a 70 year women named Shakuni Devi who registered twice in a month. [12]
The Election Commission of India responded by describing the claims of Rahul Gandhi as baseless and urged him to make the allegation by signing a declaration under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Rahul Gandhi responded by stating that he already had taken oath in the parliament for the constitution. [13]
The commission also described that the allegation of "Shakuni rani" voting twice was dismissed after a preliminary enquiry conducted by the office and that Rani only voted once. [14]
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra and Haryana issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi for submitting a formal declaration under 10 days for his alleged accusation of inclusion and exclusion of non-eligible and eligible voters by the Election Commission of India respectively. [15]
On 17 August, Chief Election Commissioner of India, Gyanesh Kumar, responded to the claims of Rahul Gandhi stating that the claims be made under a declaration under oath under 7 days, after which the claims would be considered "baseless and invalid". [16]
On 11 August, almost 200 lawmakers and supporters held a protest against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) which they claimed that it is a government conspiracy to "vote theft" in Bihar which will lead to disenfranchisement and marched to the election commission office in New Delhi. Police detained dozens of protesters including Rahul Gandhi. [17] [18] [19] [20]
On 12 August, Congress MPs protested the alleged electoral fraud by wearing T-shirts which bore the face of a 124-year-old woman according to electoral rolls in the Daraunda Assembly constituency, Minta Devi. MPs from several other opposition parties joined the protest. [21] Union Minister Kiren Rijiju criticised the protesters for allegedly "mocking" Minta Devi and claiming her to be 124 years of age. [22] Days later, Minta Devi was interviewed who was reportedly 35 years old. She condemned the use of her picture in the protest stating her discontent for the opposition leaders. [23]
Protests were held in West Bengal on the by the Congress against the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar. [24] Karnataka cooperation minister K. N. Rajanna condemned Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the Election Commission. Two days later he was removed from the cabinet which sparked protests organised by his followers in Tumakuru district. [25] [26]
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur called the allegations as an excuse for the defeat of congress in the elections and as a political agenda for the upcoming elections in Bihar. On 13 August, BJP counter accused opposition of electoral irregularities in Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour, and Kannauj parliamentary seats and demanded resignation of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Abhishek Banerjee, and Akhilesh Yadav. Presentation of the irregularities was shown at the BJP headquarters where they accused Kolathur assembly seat in Tamil Nadu and in Mainpuri seat in Uttar Pradesh of Irregularities and accused the leaders of the opposition for rigging elections. The BJP also blamed the opposition of protecting their "vote bank" of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as per the Bharatiya Janata Party. [27] [28]
Bharat Rashtra Samithi chairman, KT Rama Rao, accused the Congress of "vote chori" (vote theft) in the Telangana state elections to win the elections in the state. [29]
On 13 August, Rahul Gandhi reportedly met with 7 voters of Bihar who were reportedly declared as dead in the electoral polls to remove their names as accused by the Congress. [30] On 14 August, Rahul Gandhi declared that on 17 August the opposition will set out a protest in 30 districts of Bihar in three phases. The protest was postponed for 1 week due to the passing of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren. [31]
On 15 August, INC launched "Vote chori se Azaadi" on their social media handles, and requested people to change their display pictures to support their protest against the ECI. [32]
On 18 August, INDIA in a meeting discussed about seeking the impeachment of the Chief of Election Comission, Gyanesh Kumar. [33]
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