‘One person, one vote’ law in place since 1951, EC slams Rahul Gandhi over ‘vote chori’ claims, asks for proof

The Election Commission of India clarified that the “One person, one vote” law has been in place since the country’s first election in 1951-52, urging anyone with proof of double voting to submit it with a sworn affidavit instead of maligning all voters with terms like “vote chori,” which it said insults both the electorate and election staff.

On August 7, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, at a press conference in New Delhi, presented what he claimed was evidence of large-scale “vote chori” (vote theft) in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment, alleging that over one lakh votes were manipulated through duplicate entries, fake addresses, and bulk registrations at single locations.

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He said Congress’ internal polling had projected 16 Lok Sabha seats for the party in Karnataka, but they won only nine, attributing part of the shortfall to 100,250 “stolen” votes in Mahadevapura alone, uncovered through five different methods.

Following his remarks, the Election Commission asked Gandhi to file a formal declaration supporting his claims, along with the names of electors allegedly wrongfully included in the rolls, so it could take appropriate action.

Responding, Gandhi insisted that the figures were based on the commission’s own data, not of the Congress, and that he was making the statement publicly as his “oath.” He noted that the ECI had not denied the information or claimed the voter list he referred to was incorrect, arguing this silence was proof that similar practices were happening “across the country.”