Rahul Gandhi Claims Voter Fraud In Karnataka, Maharashtra Polls; ECI Responds

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. (Photo: IANS)

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that massive electoral fraud occurred in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference, Rahul Gandhi presented the Congress party's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka and alleged that “vote chori” (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes took place in the assembly.

“We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways: duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters registered at a single address, sometimes in a building with 50–60 people listed. But when we go there, there is no record of those people living there—only one family lives in that house,” Rahul Gandhi alleged.

“Invalid photos… Then the misuse of Form 6. Form 6 allows new people to become voters,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi said that anti-incumbency affects every party, but results went in unexpected directions in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP was reportedly facing anti-incumbency.

“Anti-incumbency hits every single party in every democracy, but for some reason, the BJP is the only party that does not suffer from anti-incumbency. Exit polls and opinion polls say one thing, but you saw in the Haryana and MP elections—suddenly, the results go in another direction with a massive swing. This also includes our internal polling, which is sophisticated,” Gandhi said.

Reiterating his claims on fake voters in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the number of voters added to the list in the five months ahead of the polls was more than the people added in the last five years.

"Maharashtra, we weren't able to tell the logic behind it. 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. Our alliance got wiped out while the alliance swept in the Lok Sabha. At the state level, between Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, one crore voters came in," he alleged.

Shortly after Rahul Gandhi's claim of poll irregularities, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) responded with a strongly worded letter, asking him to sign an affidavit detailing his allegations about the addition and deletion of electors.

Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka writes a letter to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi. Says, "... It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited… pic.twitter.com/3pzXQEyfix

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025

The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka wrote a letter to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, stating, “It is understood that during a press conference held today, you had mentioned the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the electoral rolls as cited in Para 3. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s), so that necessary proceedings can be initiated.”

Rahul Gandhi promptly responded to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer request, saying, “What I say to the people is my word. I'm saying it publicly to everybody. Take it as an oath.”

On the Election Commission’s response, Rahul Gandhi said, “I'm a politician. What I say to the people is my word. I'm saying it publicly to everybody. Take it as an oath. This is their data, and we are displaying their data. This is not our data. This is Election Commission data. Interestingly, they haven't denied the information. They haven’t said that the voter list Rahul Gandhi is referring to is wrong. Why don’t you say it is wrong? Because you know the truth. You know that we know you have done this across the country.”

(With ANI Inputs)