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Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, launched a scathing attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, alleging that the country's entire electoral framework has been compromised.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi cited an investigative report by The Indian Express revealing that two sitting Election CommissionersSukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshihad formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding procedures, database changes, and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. Drawing on his multi-generational background in public life, Gandhi questioned how standard anti-incumbency trends that have historically affected every political entity in India seem to mysteriously vanish for the ruling BJP. "Indian elections, Lok Sabha Elections, 2024 elections, Vidhan Sabha Elections are all being rigged. The people on top of that list are who we call the conspirators. By the way, Mr Gyanesh Kumar, who is sitting there two election commissioners, two election commissioners are raising questions about that man. I have been raising questions; those questions were ignored. People of India believed it. But the institutional framework of India was not interested. But now, two election commissioners, by the way, chosen by the leadership. Gyanesh Kumar was chosen by the Prime Minister of India, not by anybody less. He was chosen by Amit Shah. And now two election commissioners are saying that Mr Gyanesh Kumar is responsible for the chaos, for the damage that has taken place to our voting system," he said. Expanding on the pattern of state election results, Gandhi noted,"Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years. Suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly it disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings. Sometimes Samajwadi, sometimes BSP; it disappears. Madhya Pradesh, it disappears. Gujarat, it disappears. This has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person, and the performance of a government, but we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears. Anti-incumbency does not exist in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It does not exist in North Korea. There is no democracy on this planet where anti-incumbency does not exist..." Rahul Gandhi also tried to establish a political and historical rationale to support his allegation that election outcomes in India are being systemically manipulated in favour of the ruling party. "I come from a political family, and I have spent more than 50 years in a political family... In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency that very quickly starts to resist any government. It does not spare anybody. Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency, massive pressure. The same exact thing happens to leader after leader after leader. Happens to Congress leaders; it happens to regional parties, but for some reason, it never happens to Mr Narendra Modi, does not happen to Mr Shah, does not happen to the BJP," he added.Laying out what he called a complete chain of institutional collapse, Gandhi warned that compromising voter mandates undermines the legitimacy of Parliament and all laws passed within it. "I want to emphasise that from vote chori comes kanoon chori because if the vote is stolen, the legal structure is gone. And from kanoon chori comes sanstha chori institutions. And this is the chain that has taken place. Today the vote is gone; the law-making system is gone. Meaning, if the vote has been stolen and the MPs sitting in parliament are there based on a stolen vote then any law they are making is illegal. Please let me repeat this if the votes are stolen and the MPs who have entered parliament have done so on a stolen vote, then any law that they have made is illegal. And any institutional change they make is also illegal," said Rahul Gandhi. He presented a philosophical and institutional argument about the nature of constitutional democracy, framing alleged electoral irregularities not merely as political wrongdoing, but as an existential breakdown of the Indian republic. "From the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws are made, and from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain... If the vote has been destroyed, then our constitution has been destroyed... If our constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. If our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless," he said. Gandhi used conditional logic to argue that if the foundational link is compromised, every subsequent institution loses its legal and moral authority. "The central question here is this is not just an attack on the vote; this is an attack on the idea, the basic infrastructure, and the expression of every single Indian person. We have been saying it again and again and again that there is a problem with the vote," added Rahul Gandhi. This comes after a political firestorm erupted following an investigation by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly flagged procedural changes that were allegedly executed without the full Commission's approval. The flagged changes include centralisation of the ERONET electoral roll database, alterations to new voter registration forms (Form 6), and decisions regarding voter list deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The Indian Express reported 14 formal written dissents over 10 months by ECs Sandhu and Joshi over decision-making under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.Opposition reaction: Seizing on the report, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi labelled the alleged irregularities as "Vote Chori" and "treason," and announced that the issue will figure prominently at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on September 29. The Election Commission clarified that internal technical notes and written queries are standard procedure in a multi-member body. It assured that all final decisions regarding the SIR process were taken unanimously and have full legal sanction. Gandhi has repeatedly targeted the ECI over SIR, alleging vote chori since the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. On Wednesday, reacting to the Indian Express report, he posted on X: "Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our constitution. The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served."(ANI)
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