Upping the ante on his vote chori allegations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government brought a new law in 2023 to protect the election commissioners from legal action because they were helping the prime minister in stealing votes.
Addressing a gathering during his ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, Rahul Gandhi said, “In 2023, when we started understanding things and getting evidence, a new law was brought in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The law was that no matter what happens, no action can be taken against the Election Commissioner… If the Election Commissioner has to work honestly, then what is the need for such a law? There is only one reason: these people (the Election Commission) are helping Narendra Modi in vote theft.”
He called “vote chori” an attack on the EBCs, Dalits, OBCs, minorities, and poor general class of India. “After the vote is lost, the ration card and land will be lost. The time before independence would return when you were insulted, did not get any opportunity, and were not given education…,” he predicted.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Congress leader linked Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s purported remark that the BJP will remain in power for the next 40-50 years to his “vote chori” claim. “Amit Shah has said many times that the BJP government will last for 40-50 years. So, it got me thinking, how does he know that they will be in power for 40-50 years? This was a strange statement,” Gandhi added.
“We are all politicians but how can one make such a claim as no one can ever truly predict what people are thinking. That’s only possible if vote theft is taking place. And unfortunately, such manipulation has been happening for a long time,” he wondered.
The Congress leader stated he had doubts for a long time but didn’t speak in the absence of any evidence. “Today, I have proof and I don’t make statements irresponsibly,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi has claimed rigging in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the BJP to allow discrepancies in the polls.
Earlier this month, he addressed a press conference on the issue and shared what he described was the “criminal evidence” to back his vote theft claims. He alleged that there were over one lakh bogus voters in one assembly segment of Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency – Mahadevapura. He claimed that the BJP won the Lok Sabha seat despite losing all segments except Mahadevapura.
He showed several purported documents to back his claim, including fake addresses, duplicate voter IDs and invalid images in voter IDs.