During a 'Vote Adhikar Rally' at Bengaluru's Freedom Park on Friday, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, alleged that "one in every six votes" was stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the city during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The protest, titled "Our Vote, Our Right, Our Struggle," was spearheaded by Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. This event followed a press conference the previous day in which Gandhi had accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of being the "Election Capture of India".
Addressing the large crowd, Gandhi began by stating that the protest was an attempt to save the Constitution and its core principle of "one man, one vote".
He, further, claimed that an internal party survey had suggested that the Congress would win 15-16 seats in Karnataka, but it was reduced to only nine.
"After studying the results of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, and specifically the Mahadevapura segment. It is proven that the ECI and the Bharatiya Janata Party have together cheated Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls," he said.
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Rahul Gandhi then listed five alleged methods used for this "vote theft". He claimed the list included 12,000 duplicate voters and 40,000 voters with fake or invalid addresses. Furthermore, he alleged the existence of 10,400 bulk voters registered at the same address, 4,000 voters with invalid photographs, and the misuse of Form 6 to add 33,600 ineligible voters.
Gandhi also drew parallels with the Maharashtra assembly elections, which occurred after the Lok Sabha polls. He claimed that while the INDIA bloc performed well in the national election there, the BJP won the subsequent state election because one crore new voters were added to the lists, who he alleged had been added specifically to vote for the BJP.
He then issued a series of demands to the Election Commission, emphasising that its allegiance should be to the Constitution, not the BJP.
"Our demand is that the ECI give us the country's voter list in electronic form as well as the videographic records," he stated. "We will use that to prove vote theft took place, not just in one seat in Karnataka but across India."
Gandhi asserted that the data uncovered in Karnataka was "proof of a crime". and that if the ECI refused to provide this information, it would mean they were "hiding a crime and aiding the BJP in election theft".
Concluding his speech, Gandhi issued a stark warning, stating, "If we can get the data from the ECI, we will prove that Modi became the PM through vote theft... If you think you can get away with assaulting the Constitution, think again. It may take time, but we will catch you."
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also addressed the rally, underlining the need to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
He said: "Elections come and go, but it’s our duty to protect the electoral process. On Monday, all MPs will march to the Election Commission in Delhi to submit a memorandum."
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