New Delhi, August 8: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP of winning the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections through “massive voter list manipulation,” claiming the same “model” was deployed across India to deny victories to the Congress and other opposition parties.

Basing his allegations on data sourced from the Election Commission of India (ECI), Gandhi asserted that despite Congress leading in seven of the eight assembly segments in Bangalore Central—except Mahadevapura—it lost the parliamentary seat by 32,707 votes. He attributed this loss to alleged voter list tampering in Mahadevapura, where the BJP secured a lead of 1,14,046 votes.

According to Congress’s data analysis, 1,00,250 entries in Mahadevapura’s voter list were manipulated. These included 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 with fake or invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters with similar addresses, 4,132 with invalid photos, and 33,962 names allegedly added using Form 6, which is intended for new voters. Gandhi presented photographs showing extreme irregularities—68 voters registered under a brewery address, 80 under a single room, and elderly individuals aged 70–80 enrolling through Form 6. He cited the case of one woman, Shakuni Rani, who allegedly voted twice after registering twice in two months.

“I think the judiciary needs to get involved in this, and we need to understand that what we love so much—our democracy—doesn’t exist if this is true,” Gandhi said at a press conference. “This election was lost simply because of manipulation of the voter list.”

The ECI responded swiftly, directing Gandhi to sign a declaration under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and submit it to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka “this evening itself” to initiate proceedings. It warned that failure to comply should mean stopping “absurd conclusions” and “misleading” the public.

Gandhi accused the ECI of “partaking in the crime” by refusing to provide machine-readable electronic voter data, which he said was crucial for auditing past and recent elections. He warned polling officials: “If they don’t [release the data], there will be consequences for every polling officer—no matter how senior or junior—once the Opposition comes to power. You are attacking the foundation of what our founding fathers built, and we will not allow it.”

Calling the issue a “crime against the Indian Constitution and the Indian flag,” Gandhi argued that debates over EVMs versus paper ballots were meaningless if voter rolls and the ECI itself remained compromised. “This is carried out strategically… there is 100 percent proof that elections are rigged in India,” he said.

Responding to the charges, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra dismissed Gandhi’s claims as “selective outrage.” He questioned why the Congress had not raised similar allegations in states where it had won, such as Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

“When you win in Himachal Pradesh, you don’t say the Election Commission did a good job. When you win in Telangana and form the government while the BJP loses, show me one press conference where Rahul Gandhi claimed there was fraud by the ECI,” Patra said. He pointed to Congress’s celebrations over winning 99 seats in the 2024 elections and asked, “If democracy has failed and the ECI is compromised, what exactly are you celebrating?”

The ECI has reiterated its call for Gandhi to submit his claims under oath before it proceeds further.