New Delhi: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of playing an active role in a “well-planned and organised vote theft” under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, particularly in Gujarat.
Gandhi alleged that the SIR process has been deliberately turned into a tool to undermine the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote”, allowing the BJP to determine electoral outcomes rather than the electorate. He claimed that wherever SIR has been implemented, instances of vote manipulation have followed.
Posting in Hindi on X, Gandhi said the exercise being carried out in Gujarat is not a routine administrative procedure but a strategic operation aimed at disenfranchising voters. He described it as a systematic attempt to remove voters selectively from communities and polling booths perceived to support the Congress.
Calling the situation “shocking and dangerous”, Gandhi alleged that thousands of objections were filed under the same names, pointing to large-scale irregularities. He further claimed that voters were deliberately deleted in areas where the BJP anticipated electoral defeat.
He said similar patterns were previously witnessed in Aland and Rajura, and alleged that the same “blueprint” is now being replicated in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and other states where SIR is underway. According to Gandhi, the Election Commission has ceased to function as an independent constitutional authority and has instead become a participant in what he termed a conspiracy to steal votes.
Gandhi’s remarks followed a social media post by the Gujarat Congress, which alleged that after his exposure of vote manipulation, the BJP adopted a more advanced model of election rigging. The party claimed that the ECI, after releasing the draft electoral rolls post-SIR, invited objections with January 18 as the deadline. While only a limited number of objections were received initially, the Congress alleged that millions of objections-mainly through Form 7-were suddenly submitted in the final phase as part of a coordinated plan.
According to the Gujarat Congress, when the Election Commission released data showing 1.2 million objections, it became evident that electoral rules were being violated to target specific castes, communities, and regions. The party alleged that multiple objections were filed under the name of a single individual with varying signatures, while the ECI failed to intervene.
The Congress also claimed that despite writing to the Election Commission seeking details about the objections, it received no response, which, it said, exposed the extent of election manipulation. The party accused the ECI of surrendering its independence, responsibility, and accountability to the ruling BJP.
