New Delhi, 7 August

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday cited an analysis of data from a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka from the 2024 elections to make explosive claims of "huge criminal fraud" in polls perpetrated by the BJP through the Election Commission, and asserted that this was a "crime" against the Constitution.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha also said that the judiciary needs to get involved in this because the democracy that "we love so much does not exist".

Gandhi said what his party had collected was "criminal evidence" and alleged that the Election Commission was busy destroying such proof across the country.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC's Indira Bhawan headquarters here, Gandhi also hit back at the Election Commission for demanding from him a signed declaration on his claims and said he had made the remarks publicly and they can "take it as an oath".

"I am a politician, what I say to the people is my word. I am saying it to the people publicly, take it as an oath. Interestingly, they haven't denied the information.

"They haven't said the voter lists (shown by me) are wrong, they are saying Rahul Gandhi should say it under oath... they know the truth. We know you (EC) have done this across the country," the former Congress president said.

Talking to the media while taking them through an online presentation, Gandhi said they analysed the voter data of the Lok Sabha constituency of Bengaluru Central and the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in it from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Our internal polls indicated that we were expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka (in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections). However, we won nine. We then focused on the seven unexpected losses and chose the Mahadevapura Vidhan Sabha constituency. All the data we have here is from the 2024 elections, sourced from the Election Commission," he asserted.

Gandhi cited that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured 6,58,915 votes in the Bengaluru Central seat, winning with a margin of 32,707.

"In the Mahadevapura assembly segment, the Congress received 1,15,586 votes, whereas the BJP garnered 2,29,632 votes.

"The Congress won all the Vidhan Sabhas except Mahadevapura, where the BJP swept and secured a victory margin of 1,14,046 votes. This seat significantly contributed to their election win, and the Lok Sabha result went in their favour on that seat," he said.

"This discrepancy is a huge imbalance. So, we started examining the details and discovered that approximately 1,00,250 votes were stolen in the Mahadevapura assembly," he claimed.

Gandhi alleged there was "vote chori" of 1,00,250 votes in the Mahadevapura segment, with 11,965 duplicate voters in the segment, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters.

Gandhi backed his claims of discrepancies with data displayed on the giant screen, citing examples of fake voters, duplicate voters and single address voters.

"This is EC data, and the EC is saying it is getting free and fair polls done. In one assembly segment, one lakh fake voters are there, we are telling the people of the country, this is your future. The whole system is being stolen. This evidence is 100 per cent in black and white," the Congress leader asserted.

"We see there is a pattern, we are absolutely convinced that this crime is being done on a huge scale across the country in state after state after state. CCTV footage and voter list are evidence in crime and the Election Commission is trying to destroy it," he alleged.

"I want the nation to know that there is a huge criminal fraud being perpetrated on this country. It is being done by the Election Commission and the party in power and we have given you undoubtable proof," he said.

"If the Election Commission now does not give us electronic voter data of the last 10-15 years, and if it does not share the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime," he said.

Gandhi also batted for the judiciary to get involved in the issue. "I think the judiciary needs to get involved in this. We need to understand what is going on. Because, what we love so much -- our democracy, doesn't exist.

"What is the difference between us and other places, it is the democracy, it's gone... if this is true," he said.

In a warning to those involved in perpetrating "electoral fraud", Gandhi said there are going to be consequences for every single polling officer who is doing this.

"It doesn't matter how senior or junior you are. One day, the Opposition is going to come to power and then you see what we do to you; because you are attacking the foundation of what our forefathers who fought for India's freedom built and we are not going to allow you to do that, no matter who you are," he said.

Gandhi said his message to the Election Commission is that they are not in the business of destroying Indian democracy but in the business of protecting it.

"This is a crime that is being committed against the Indian Constitution, against the Indian flag. This is nothing less than that," he said, alleging poll rigging in various parts of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the PM with a slender majority and needed to "steal" only 25 seats to stay in power, he said, adding the BJP won 25 seats in the Lok Sabha polls with less than 33,000 votes.

He said the foundation of the Constitution is based on the fact that one person gets one vote. "When we look at polls, the fundamental thing is how to secure 'one man, one vote' idea. Are the right people allowed to vote? Are fake people being added? Is the voter list true or not?" he said.

"For some time there has been suspicion among the public. Anti-incumbency hits every single party, but the BJP is the only party that does not suffer anti-incumbency in a democratic framework," he said.

Exit polls go massively wrong and so do internal surveys, he said. Gandhi alleged that elections are "choreographed" these days lasting months, when earlier, with minimal technology, the polls were conducted in the country together.

"The Election Commission is not giving us data because they are afraid that what we did in Mahadevapura, we will do in the remaining Lok Sabha seats, and then the truth of the country's democracy will come out," he said.

The Election Commission is colluding with the BJP and helping them, he alleged.