Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that the ruling party was manipulating the electoral process. He cited recent Rajya Sabha elections as evidence of what he termed “seat chori” (seat theft).
In a post on his WhatsApp channel, Gandhi claimed that after “vote chori” and “sarkar chori,” the BJP and the Election Commission had together ensured that electoral contests were decided before voting could even take place. “After Vote Chori and Sarkar Chori – the BJP-EC jugalbandi has finished the contest before it has even begun with Seat Chori,” he said.
Referring to the controversy surrounding the rejection of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission applied different standards to different candidates. “Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan ji submitted every document. No pending cases. The EC cancelled her nomination on a frivolous BJP objection,” he said.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha further claimed that Parimal Nathwani, an Independent candidate backed by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections from Jharkhand, was treated leniently despite alleged discrepancies in his nomination papers.
“Parimal Nathwani ji, the BJP-backed independent, got his own name wrong on the form and skipped multiple mandatory disclosures. The EC gave him an extension to fix everything,” Gandhi alleged.
Questioning the conduct of the poll panel, he added, “Same Election Commission. Two candidates. One was disqualified without even a hearing. The other was rewarded despite not following the rules.”
Gandhi also claimed that the Congress sought a meeting with Election Commission officials over the matter but did not receive a satisfactory response.
“When the Congress sought a meeting, the EC first tried to evade us. When we finally met, they did not say one word,” he said.
Escalating his criticism of the BJP, Gandhi alleged that the ruling party preferred manipulating the electoral process rather than competing fairly.
“Expect to see much more of this – because for the BJP, it is far easier to fix the election than to win it,” he said.
The remarks came amid a political row over the Rajya Sabha elections held on Thursday, in which the BJP secured all three seats from Madhya Pradesh and all four seats from Gujarat, with candidates in both states elected unopposed. The Congress has alleged irregularities in the scrutiny of nomination papers, particularly in the case of Natarajan, while the BJP has rejected the accusations and maintained that the electoral process was conducted in accordance with established rules.
The ECI has not publicly responded to Gandhi’s latest allegations. The controversy is expected to add to the ongoing confrontation between the opposition and the poll panel, with the Congress increasingly raising questions over the functioning and impartiality of institutions involved in the electoral process.