Rahul Gandhi escalates attack over alleged electoral irregularities (Img: X/RahulGandhi)
New Delhi: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabbha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Narendra Modi government, linking alleged irregularities in the electoral process to the legitimacy of laws passed by Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi said, “From vote chori comes kanoon chori. Today the vote is gone, the law-making system is gone. If the vote has been stolen, then any law, any institutional change that the lawmakers who have been voted to Parliament through vote chori have made is also illegal.”
Gandhi also held Gyanesh Kumar responsible for what he described as the disruption in the electoral process and claimed that two Election Commissioners had blamed the CEC for the situation.
His remarks came after an investigative report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had differed with the CEC on several issues over the past 10 months during the nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The report also alleged that the two commissioners had been kept in the dark over certain decisions.
“Vote is the foundation of our nation and our vote has been destroyed,” Rahul Gandhi said, referring to the reported differences within the Election Commission.
“Not just attack on vote, it’s the attack on the expression of every Indian,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi argued that the Election Commission’s responsibility was to protect voters’ rights and said that if the vote had been destroyed, the Constitution could no longer function as intended.
The Congress leader also alleged that Indian elections were being “rigged”, claiming there was “100% certainty” that the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections had been manipulated.
“There is already more than enough information to make this 100% certainty, not 99%, 100% certainty that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 election, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged,” Gandhi said.
He questioned why what he described as the established pattern of anti-incumbency, which had affected Congress and regional parties in the past, appeared to have changed in recent General and Assembly elections.
Gandhi referred to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s popularity following the 1971 Bangladesh war, saying that anti-incumbency had risen sharply within a few years.
“The same exact thing happens to leader after leader after leader. Happens to Congress leaders. 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?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
He also referred to electoral outcomes in Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat while questioning what he described as a departure from the traditional pattern of anti-incumbency.
Gandhi said the Congress had been examining the reasons behind the change and linked his concerns to what he described as problems within the electoral process.
“The vote is the foundation of our country,” he said, arguing that the Election Commission serves as the institutional protector of the vote.
Gandhi said the vote gives the Constitution its authority, while the Constitution enables laws to be made and laws, in turn, create institutions.
“If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. It no longer has its power. It no longer functions,” he said.
He alleged that the Election Commission had failed in its responsibility to protect the vote and insisted that his claims were supported by evidence rather than being made “in the air”.
“I have shown it with proof,” Gandhi said.
He also referred to election officials and claimed that questions had been raised against Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that his earlier concerns had been ignored.
