Bangalore Central Lok Sabha Seat an ‘Example of Vote Chori’, Says Rahul Gandhi, EC Counters

Rahul Gandhi, a prominent Congress leader, made a significant accusation in Delhi. He alleged that the Election Commission (EC) collaborated with the BJP to manipulate election outcomes. His central example was the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, which Congress lost to BJP by a narrow margin of less than 3 percentage points. He claimed instances of "fake voters" and "duplicate voting" were involved.

The Karnataka state chief electoral officer responded to Rahul Gandhi's allegations by sending him an oath letter. This document required him to provide evidence for his claims about the Bangalore Central result. It also highlighted the legal implications of submitting false evidence. The BJP had not yet commented on these accusations when this report was updated.

Allegations of Electoral Manipulation

During a livestreamed presentation, Rahul Gandhi elaborated on his claims of electoral manipulation. He stated that Congress anticipated winning 16 out of 28 seats in Karnataka but secured only nine. The loss in Bangalore Central was particularly suspicious, he noted. The seat witnessed over 13 lakh votes cast, with BJP's PC Mohan defeating Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan by just 32,707 votes, or 2.58% of the total votes.

Rahul Gandhi further scrutinised Mahadevapura, one of the eight assembly segments within Bangalore Central constituency. He pointed out that BJP gained over 1 lakh votes there, negating Congress's gains from other segments. He described this as a "huge imbalance." He alleged that 1,00,250 votes were stolen in Mahadevapura through duplicate voters and misuse of Form 6 for new enrolments.

Evidence and Verification

Gandhi presented voter rolls as evidence, showing alleged fake addresses and bulk voter registrations at single addresses. He cited examples where individuals were registered multiple times across different polling booths and even states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. His party reportedly verified these anomalies by visiting locations such as breweries listed as voter addresses.

The Karnataka poll chief addressed Gandhi's claims in a letter stating: "It is understood that during a press conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors." The officer requested Gandhi to return an enclosed declaration or oath along with elector names to initiate necessary proceedings.

Concerns Beyond Karnataka

Rahul Gandhi extended his allegations beyond Karnataka to states like Maharashtra and Haryana. In Maharashtra, he claimed that between Lok Sabha elections and Vidhan Sabha elections, there was an unexplained addition of 1 crore new voters. Similar concerns were raised regarding Haryana's electoral process.

He argued that if PM Narendra Modi and BJP had lost just another 25 seats in the Lok Sabha 2024 polls, they would have been out of power due to their lack of majority on their own. According to him, it was all about managing election results effectively.

The situation remains tense as both parties await further developments following these serious allegations against the Election Commission and BJP regarding electoral integrity across multiple states in India.