Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday intensified his criticism of the Election Commission, accusing the poll panel, the BJP and the RSS of being involved in what he described as “vote chori” and calling it an “act of treason”.
Gandhi’s remarks came shortly after an investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, “Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution. The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served.”
According to the Indian Express investigation, the objections by Sandhu and Joshi related to several decisions concerning electoral-roll procedures, including aspects of voter additions and deletions, access to electoral-roll databases and the handling of appeals. The report said four of the objections were recorded on a single day.
The Congress subsequently stepped up its attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The party alleged that the functioning of the poll panel had been concentrated in the hands of the CEC and questioned the manner in which decisions concerning the electoral rolls were being taken. These are political allegations by the Congress and have not been independently established by the investigation itself.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected suggestions of an internal dispute over the SIR exercise. According to the poll panel’s position, decisions taken by the Commission, including those relating to SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of the Chief Election Commissioner as well as the other two Election Commissioners.
Gandhi has repeatedly raised concerns over electoral rolls and the functioning of the Election Commission as part of the Congress’s broader “vote chori” campaign. The Election Commission and the ruling BJP have rejected the allegations of electoral manipulation.
