Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference held on August 7, made sensational claims accusing a common man, Aditya Srivastava, of being involved in a vote fraud scheme by appearing multiple times in electoral rolls across Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. The Congress leader alleged that Srivastava’s name appeared four times with the same photo and address, using this to fuel his broader ‘vote chori’ narrative.
In a response on August 8, Aditya Srivastava, the victim, refuted Gandhi’s claims during a telephonic interview with India TV. Srivastava explained that his voter registration history reflects legitimate transfers corresponding to his relocations:
- Originally registered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, where he resided until 2016.
- Transferred voter ID to Mumbai, Maharashtra in 2016 when he moved for work.
- Cast his vote in Mumbai during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
- Moved to Bengaluru, Karnataka in 2021 and re-registered his voter ID accordingly.
- Voted from Bengaluru in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Srivastava emphasised that he never voted in multiple states simultaneously, dismissing Rahul Gandhi’s accusations as baseless.
Personal data leak and challenge to Rahul Gandhi
The victim expressed anger over the public leak of his personal information by Rahul Gandhi and challenged the Congress leader to provide any evidence, such as call records or CCTV footage, proving simultaneous voting in different states.
He also pointed out that his EPIC number, the unique 10-digit voter ID identifier, remained consistent through all constituency transfers, negating any possibility of duplicate or fraudulent voting.
A team from India TV visited Srivastava’s former Mumbai residence, where tenants confirmed he vacated the apartment in 2021. This corroborates Srivastava’s timeline of shifting cities and updating voter registration as per Election Commission rules.
Rahul Gandhi’s allegations were not backed by publicly accessible data on the Election Commission’s Voter Services Portal. The Congress leader’s research team appears to have confused voter records from different election years (2019 and 2024), creating a false narrative of vote fraud.
Rahul Gandhi’s persistent promotion of the ‘vote chori’ conspiracy theory has been widely criticised as an attempt to defame the Election Commission of India and justify the Congress party’s repeated electoral defeats.
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