'Over 1L votes stolen in Mahadevapura assembly': Rahul Gandhi's big claim against EC, poll body responds

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to manipulate elections through large-scale voter list tampering in Karnataka.

Speaking at a press conference, Gandhi claimed that over one lakh fake votes were detected in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly constituency alone.

“Out of 6.5 lakh votes in Mahadevapura, there was ‘vote chori’ of over one lakh votes,” Gandhi said. He alleged that fake names, duplicate entries, invalid addresses, and bulk additions were deliberately inserted to influence the poll outcome.

He added that the findings came from a detailed investigation conducted by the Congress research team.

Gandhi also raised concerns over alleged voter list manipulation in Maharashtra, pointing to what he called an unnatural rise in the number of registered voters.

“In Maharashtra, we publicly told the Election Commission that more voters were added in five months than in five years, which raised suspicions. The number of new voters even exceeded the population of Maharashtra, a very surprising fact,” he said.

He flagged further discrepancies between the results of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, noting a sharp contrast in performance by the INDIA bloc.

“In the Vidhan Sabha elections, our Gathbandhan was wiped out, whereas just months earlier in the Lok Sabha polls, the same alliance had swept. Very suspicious,” Gandhi remarked.

Responding to the allegations, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi regarding his accusations of inclusion of ineligible voters in the Mahadevapura assembly seat in Karnataka.

“It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited at Para 3. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated,” the letter stated.