"Desh drohi will be punished": Rahul Gandhi calls 2024 polls "rigged" amid ECI row, targets PM Modi, Amit Shah

The attack follows an investigative report by The Indian Express, which revealed 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.

Gandhi, who has been repeatedly alleging "Vote Chori" against the BJP-led government, came down hard on the Chief Election Commisioner Gyanesh Kumar as he demanded the latter's resignation and said that PM Modi and Shah will be "investigated".

The Congress leader started the press conference with a compilation of Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's earlier videos, where they expressed confidence in the BJP's long run and victory ahead of previous elections.

As the video finished, Gandhi questioned the basis of their confidence, stating that he himself has been in a political family for more than 50 years but "no political leader who operates in a democratic environment can say or make such a statement".

He invoked a recurring theme in Indian Democracy: anti-incumbency and claimed that it somehow disappears for the BJP.

"Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency... but for some reason, it never happens to Mr. Narendra Modi, does not happen to Mr. Shah, does not happen to the BJP," he said, citing swings of ruling political parties in Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

"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," he said.

Gandhi demanded the Chief Election Commissioner's immediate resignation and warned of consequences. "The first thing we are saying is Mr. Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately... This thing that you have done is an act against the Indian nation... A person who attacks the vote, who fundamentally destroys India's democratic institution, is nothing other than a 'Desh Drohi'," he said, adding that Modi and Shah were "at the top of this conspiracy" and would face investigation.

He also suggested a path forward for the CEC, stating, "I said that he (CEC Gyanesh Kumar) should turn Approver."

Gandhi framed the moment as a rupture in the chain connecting India's democratic architecture.

"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... 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."

Gandhi traced the controversy back to a December 2023 law he said shielded election commissioners from investigation.

He is referring to The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. Section 16 of the Act said, "Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no Court shall entertain or continue any civil or criminal proceedings against any person who is or was a Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner for any act, thing or word, committed, done or spoken by him when, or in the course of acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty or function."

Gandhi said, "He (Kumar) is immune to the Indian legal system. On February 7, we held our press conference on Maharashtra. We made it very clear that vote-chori is going on, and we put proof on the table. After that, I gave a dissent note to the Prime Minister of India, where I said that the most fundamental aspect of an independent election commission, free from executive interference, is the process of choosing the election commissioners and the chief election commissioner. My view is thrown aside, and the gentleman is appointed by the Prime Minister of India."

He continued to cite the multiple state-centric "vote chori" allegations over time from Congress.

"Here, we show a certain methodology that is taking place. These letters that start, start after Aland vote-chori and at approximately the same time as our Haryana vote-chori. The ECs knew this. They understood what was going on. But then they decided that something needed to be done. That is when these letters start... We do Haryana vote-chori, which frankly is the most devastating presentation because of the level of discrepancies that have taken place there. Now, the two gentlemen make it public," he said.

Pressed on the extraordinary nature of the moment, Gandhi said India was in uncharted territory as the chain connecting votes, legislation, institutions, and the Constitution has been fundamentally fractured.

"This situation had never occurred in India. We are somewhere new now... We are suddenly finding ourselves where the chain between the vote, the laws, the institutions and the Constitution is broken. It's a new territory." He argued neither Modi nor Shah could credibly investigate themselves, and said widespread suspicion about institutional decay was finally breaking through public silence: "There is fear, so people are scared to say it. But the fear is reducing because 2 Election Commissioners who were scared to say it have said it... remaining silent on it is an anti-national act," he said.

The political firestorm follows an investigative report by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly flagged procedural changes allegedly executed without the full Commission's explicit approval.

Over 10 months, 14 formal written dissents were recorded under CEC Gyanesh Kumar. The key issues flagged include rapid centralisation of the ERONET electoral roll database platform, unilateral changes made to new voter registration forms in Form 6 and decisions regarding voter list deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The Election Commission of India has rejected the assertion that the reported objections represented structural or institutional dissent over final decisions. In a statement, the poll panel clarified that operational queries, internal feedback, and administrative suggestions raised during draft stages are standard practice within its decision-making framework.

The ECI maintained that all final decisions taken by the Commission, including those related to the SIR exercise, were unanimous and carried the approval of all three commissioners.

While the BJP and the ECI continue to defend the legitimacy and transparency of the SIR exercise, Congress and other Opposition parties have intensified their demands for accountability and a thorough review of electoral roll revisions

TMC MP Mahua Moitra filed a police complaint against the CEC alleging procedural violations and unilateral decision-making. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh cited the Goa CEO's unanswered emails as further evidence that the Commission had "completely destroyed the integrity, credibility and competence" of its office.

The ECI has maintained that internal disagreements and written observations during drafting are routine for a multi-member constitutional body, and that final SIR-related decisions were unanimous.

The BJP dismissed Gandhi's press conference as recycled and factually thin.

Party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi mocked Gandhi's slide presentation and disputed his anti-incumbency thesis.

"Ever since 1967, the Congress has never returned to power in Tamil Naduand back then, the Bharatiya Janata Party was not even in the picture. In Bengal, the Congress has not returned to power since 1977... Politically speaking, Rahul Gandhi's knowledge is zero," he said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also came to Gyanesh Kumar's defence, stating that decisions in the poll panel are made strictly by majority or consensus, dismissing criticism from the Opposition as "desperation".

The dispute over SIR and the ECI's internal functioning is expected to be taken up during the Congress Working Committee meeting on September 29 in New Delhi.

As it happened, the Election Commission of India said that ECINet is designed as a secure, decentralised digital platform operationalised under the provisions of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1950, and the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951.

The poll body added that, in strict adherence to electoral law, statutory duties on ECINet are executed purely by designated field officersspecifically Block Level Officers (BLOs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), District Election Officers (DEOs), and Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs)authenticated strictly through unique IDs and secure credentials.

The Election Commission last year began a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, billed as a clean-up exercise. Under it, electors submitted forms and documents via ECINet, which officials then processed.

The poll body launched the ECINet app in January this year, with a beta version tested during the Bihar polls last November. While the platform disseminates real-time poll results for the public, it is also used by election officials. (ANI)