New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of engineering a large-scale electoral fraud in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency. Citing findings from a Congress-led investigation into the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, Gandhi alleged that over 1 lakh votes were illegally added through various methods.
Addressing a press conference, Gandhi claimed that the BJP secured victory in Bangalore Central due to a 1.14 lakh vote margin in Mahadevapura alone, despite Congress winning all other Assembly segments in the constituency. According to him, the Congress discovered 1,00,250 fake or illegal votes, added using five methods: duplicate voter entries, fake or invalid addresses, bulk registrations at single addresses, invalid photographs, and misuse of Form 6 used for new voter enrolment.
He cited specific examples of duplicate voter entries, including people registered in multiple polling booths across states. One person, he said, was listed in four different booths, while another was registered in three states. In one case, a voter was registered twice within a span of two months and allegedly voted twice.
Gandhi added that the probe found 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 with fake addresses, 10,452 bulk registrations at single addresses, 4,132 invalid photographs, and 33,692 cases of misuse of Form 6. He showed voter lists with addresses like “House No 0” or voters registered at commercial locations, including a brewery, where dozens were listed but none found.
“This is a crime that is being committed against the Indian Constitution,” he said, alleging a systematic pattern of electoral manipulation across states. He added that the BJP’s consistent wins in specific seats despite anti-incumbency raised red flags and suggested a broader electoral fraud mechanism.
The Congress leader also criticized the ECI, accusing it of collusion and destroying crucial data. He demanded judicial intervention and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi held power due to a lead of just 25 seats, something potentially influenced by such vote theft.
He said the findings from Mahadevapura were just the beginning and that the Congress would expose similar patterns in other constituencies.