Rahul Gandhi has once again unleashed what he termed an “atom bomb” of revelations against the Election Commission of India (ECI). On August 7, in a press conference, he accused the ECI of colluding with the BJP to rig the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through voter fraud in Karnataka and Maharashtra. He waved around supposed evidence of over 1,00,250 fake votes in Mahadevapura, citing duplicate voters, fake addresses and invalid photos. Unfortunately for Gandhi, this dramatised PowerPoint presentation turned out to be nothing more than a damp squib that fizzled out faster than his party’s electoral prospects.
Gandhi follows a predictable five-step playbook: Lose elections, concoct wild excuses, dodge formal complaints, refuse to substantiate claims in court and spread chaos with fake news.
He made a claim about a voter whose EPIC number allegedly appeared in voter lists across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Lucknow. This was his grand proof of ECI’s manipulation. But when fact-checked using the ECI’s official voter search portal, the results were as embarrassing as a Rahul Gandhi rally. No such voter, named by Gandhi, was found in Lucknow or Maharashtra’s voter lists by a few fact-checkers in the media. Within half an hour, his grand conspiracy unravelled, revealing nothing but a desperate attempt to deflect from his party’s electoral drubbing and make wild and reckless allegations.
In Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi’s claims about voter surges range wildly from 1 crore to 70 lakh to 40 lakh new voters, and lack any grounding in reality. His accusations of “vote theft” in Maharashtra were already dismissed by the Bombay High Court with stern remarks, yet he persists. After the latest observations by the apex court on Gandhi’s statements about the Indian Army, his credibility is at an all-time low. Yet, he continues to mislead. None of his allegations — from Rafale to Savarkar, Pegasus to Hindenburg, claims on RSS to China occupying Indian land — find any credence before a court of law.
His hypocrisy is as glaring as his inability to win elections. When Congress wins in states like Himachal Pradesh or Telangana, the ECI is a paragon of fairness. But when it loses, the ECI is compromised. Even Congress veteran Selja Kumari admitted the party’s own failures were to blame for the Haryana. Yet, Gandhi refuses to take a look within. His attacks on the ECI echo the Congress’s old habit of demonising Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) — until several court rulings confirmed their integrity, forcing Gandhi to now chase a new bogeyman: Voter lists.
What’s particularly absurd is his refusal to back his claims with evidence. The Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka and Maharashtra have invited him to submit his allegations under oath, as required by the Representation of the People Act, 1951. He responded by saying that his word is as good as a sworn affidavit! This isn’t just arrogance, it’s a deliberate attempt to dodge accountability. If his claims had substance, he would have exposed these in court instead of staging press conferences.
Gandhi’s assault on the ECI isn’t just baseless but dangerous. By threatening “serious consequences” if his demands aren’t met, he is speaking the language of an Emergency-era tyrant who places dynastic ambition above democratic institutions. Gandhi’s outbursts are more about “EMI” (Emergency Mindset of Indira), not ECI. He seems to believe that his Parivar Tantra is above Samvidhan Tantra.
However, Gandhi’s latest allegations inadvertently bolster the case for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, a process Congress’s ally Tejashwi Yadav opposes in Bihar. By crying foul about fake and duplicate voters, Rahul unwittingly endorses the ECI’s efforts to clean up electoral rolls. Perhaps he missed the memo from his own ally, who recently inadvertently flaunted two EPIC cards/voter IDs in a press conference and went into pretty much the same silence mode when ECI sought details of his claims. If he is so concerned about voter fraud, why not champion SIR instead of undermining the ECI?
Congress should read Ghalib: Ta umr Ghalib ye bhool karta raha, dhool chehre pe thi, Ghalib aaina saaf karta raha. The fault lies not in the mirror but your own reality, dear Rahul.
The writer is national spokesperson, BJP
