The 2024 Haryana assembly polls were “stolen”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Wednesday, citing electoral roll data to claim that 25 lakh entries were fake and the Election Commission colluded with the BJP to ensure its victory.
The ‘centralised plan’ included a Brazilian model whose photograph was used 22 times in 10 booths in the Rai assembly constituency using names such as “Seema, Sweety and Saraswati” for her, the former Congress president said at a press conference during which he put up a presentation “The H-files” to back his claim.
The BJP dismissed the allegation of mass vote theft as “false and baseless” and accused the Congress leader of raising questions on the Election Commission to hide his failures and defame the country’s democracy.
If there is any irregularity with the voting, then one must flag it with the EC or approach the court, said BJP’s Kiren Rijiju. “But he never does it,” the minister said.
Election Commission officials also trashed the allegation as unfounded, saying no appeals were filed against the electoral rolls in Haryana.
According to Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini are “not legitimately in government”.
“The message is that the Gen Z and youth have the power to restore our democracy with satya and ahimsa. Peacefully, but by expressing their desire for a democratic India, by fighting for a democratic India and by resisting this wholesale theft of democracy and murder of the Constitution and democracy,” he said while addressing the media at Indira Bhawan.
Training his guns on the Election Commission, Gandhi alleged that it “colluded” with the prime minister and the BJP to launch “Operation Sarkar Chori” to convert the Congress’ landslide victory in the state into a loss in 2024.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said he is questioning the Election Commission and the democratic process in the country and is doing so with 100 per cent proof.
Gandhi alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the two election commissioners colluded with the BJP to destroy democratic foundations and to ensure the ruling party’s victory in Haryana.
He cited the electoral list of Haryana to claim that 25,41,144 were fake voters with 5,21,619 duplicate voters, 93,174 invalid addresses and 19,26,351 bulk voters.
“One in eight voters in Haryana are fake and despite that the Congress loses by 22,779 votes which was the difference in eight seats,” Gandhi said, adding that 1,24,177 fake pictures of voters were used.
“The big picture is that 22,000 is the margin and 25 lakh is this… You can understand that there was no election in Haryana. There was a theft (of elections) in Haryana and it is very clear who is responsible for the theft.” The Congress leader also alleged that the CEC lied to the people of India when he stated that “house number zero” is given to homeless people.
CEC Kumar had said crores of people have ‘zero number’ in their house addresses because the panchayat or the municipality has not given the number to the house.
“Why is the Election Commission not removing duplicates? It is because if it does so, it would result in fair elections and it doesn’t want fair elections,” Gandhi alleged.
Gandhi claimed that thousands of people associated with the BJP voted both in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Showing the photograph of the woman he claimed was a Brazilian model, he said she is “one of 25 lakh such records in Haryana which is proof of a centralised operation”.
According to Gandhi, “Sarkar Chori” has destroyed India’s democracy and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue is the latest weapon.
This system of “vote chori” is now being implemented in Bihar and it is being industrialised, he said a day ahead of the first phase of Bihar polls.
“It is going to be used in Bihar and I am confident that after Bihar elections, we will get the same records and will show that the same thing has happened in Bihar.
Gandhi said his party will coordinate with opposition parties against SIR, but alleged that democracy in the country has been murdered.
“Every single opposition party understands this, they can see this…If the voter list is a lie, there is no democracy. My role as an opposition leader is to let you know the real world that you are living in,” he said.
“How the opposition proceeds… we will coordinate and we will work together, but the fundamental thing that the youth of India and the people of India have to understand is there was no election in Haryana. It was a lie and we have proved it.” Asked about moving the courts, he said, “The Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, is watching…it is not hidden.” Gandhi also played out a video of now Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini saying two days before counting that the BJP would win and also making this statement — “We have a system in place”.
“We suspected, once we did Mahadevapura and Aland (in Karnataka), that this is not happening in just one constituency but this is being done at the state and national level,” Gandhi said.