Rahul Gandhi Accuses EC Of Concealment, Demands Decade Of Voter Records, Video Evidence

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (Photo Credit: @INCIndia/X)

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding that it release electronic voters’ lists from the past 10 years, along with related video recordings. He warned that the Commission’s refusal to do so would amount to concealing a crime and participating in electoral fraud.

Addressing a massive crowd at the ‘Our Vote, Our Right, Our Fight’ rally, organized to protest alleged election manipulation, Gandhi accused the ECI of colluding with the BJP.

“The Election Commission must understand that it took six months to expose fraud in just one Lok Sabha seat. If you don’t provide the data, we can still uncover irregularities in 15 to 20 Lok Sabha seats. We already have the information. You can’t hide and escape. One day, you will have to face the Opposition. Each officer and the Commission must be aware of this,” Gandhi said.

He alleged that the results of one Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka were tampered with, calling it a criminal act against the people of the state. He urged the state government to investigate the matter and hold accountable the ECI officials who allegedly enrolled between 1,000 to 15,000 fake voters.

“The result of one Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka was stolen. This is a criminal act against the people of the state. The state government must investigate and take action. The ECI officials who enrolled 1,000 to 15,000 fake voters on the rolls must be held accountable. The truth regarding the Mahadevapura Assembly segment must come out,” he said.

Gandhi asserted that the electronic data of Indian voters is crucial evidence and warned against its destruction.

“We believe that the electronic data of all Indian voters constitutes vital evidence. If anyone destroys it, it amounts to destruction of evidence, a punishable crime,” he stated.

The Congress leader further declared his readiness to prove electoral malpractice if the ECI makes the digital data and video footage public.

“If the electronic data of the entire country is made available, I will prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi became PM through fraudulent means. The entire country must question why the ECI is refusing to provide the digital records and video footage,” Gandhi said.

He explained that it took six months to access data from Karnataka, requiring meticulous cross-verification.

“The data from Karnataka is proof of a crime. It took six months to access it. There was a huge pile of documents. One photo had to be compared with lakhs of others. Each name had to be checked against many similar ones,” he noted.

Gandhi also argued that the BJP’s national victory hinged on a small number of manipulated seats.

“Had the BJP lost 25 seats, Narendra Modi wouldn’t be the PM. In one seat, we have already proven fraud. In all 25 crucial seats, BJP candidates won by a margin of around 35,000 votes,” he claimed.

Reaffirming the core principle of democratic representation, Gandhi stated, “Every Indian citizen is granted the right to vote by the Constitution. In the last election, the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and their leaders attacked the Constitution. Constitutional institutions were suppressed, and attempts were made to dismantle the Constitution,” he charged.

He cited discrepancies in voting patterns during elections in Maharashtra and Karnataka as further evidence of irregularities.

“During the last Lok Sabha election, a major question arose. In Maharashtra, after the Lok Sabha polls, the state Assembly election was held. In the Lok Sabha, our alliance won. But four months later, the BJP alliance won the state polls ‘magically.’ We tracked that 1 crore voters had voted in the state election. Wherever they voted, the BJP won. New voters who did not vote during the Lok Sabha polls suddenly cast votes in the state Assembly polls, and their votes went to the BJP. That was the moment we knew something was wrong,” he said.

He added that internal Congress assessments in Karnataka had predicted a stronger showing than the official results reflected.

“In Karnataka, our internal surveys predicted 15 to 17 Lok Sabha seats for us. As per our estimates, we should have won 17 out of 28 seats. But we ended up winning only 9,” Gandhi stated.

“That’s when we began to question whether we had genuinely lost those seats. We demanded soft copies of the voters’ list, but the ECI refused. We asked for video recordings, but they rejected the request and even went on to change the rules. So we started our analysis with just one Lok Sabha seat and discovered the electoral fraud,” he concluded.

(With Inputs from IANS)