Carl Sagan, noted science communicator, once said that extraordinary claims must be backed by extraordinary evidence. Yet in recent weeks, Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, seems to have turned that maxim on its head. His allegation of “Vote Chori” (theft of votes) has dominated headlines, but as the dust settles, it is increasingly being dismantled not by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s counterattack, but by voters, institutions, and facts on the ground.
Tall Claims, Little Evidence
When Gandhi walked into his press conference in Delhi earlier this monsoon, he sought to frame the national discourse around one message: India’s elections are being stolen. With a laptop in one hand, a spiral notebook in the other, and a PowerPoint presentation projected as though it were courtroom evidence, he unveiled what he called an “atom bomb.” In Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, he alleged that the electoral rolls were riddled with irregularities: 12,000 duplicate voters, 40,000 with invalid addresses, over 10,000 bulk registrations from the same address, thousands of mismatched photographs, and 33,000 fraudulent uses of Form 6 (used for voter registration or change of constituency). The numbers were staggering. The delivery was dramatic. And yet, the narrative quickly unravelled.
Rahul Gandhi’s Lies Exposed by the Voters
- Claimed 1 lakh fake votes in Mahadevapura
Fact: EC asked for proof. None given - Alleged 70-yr-old Shakun Rani voted twice
Fact: EC probe found she voted only once. - Brought Ranju Devi to say her name missing from voter list
Fact: She admitted she was asked by Congress to lie - Labelled a family from Karnataka “fake voters” due to
unclear photos
Fact: They showed EPIC cards & proved they’re genuine - Projected Minta Devi (Siwan) as “124 yrs old voter”.
Fact: She said she is 34 and slammed Congress for misusing her name - Targeted Aditya Shrivastava as a fake voter
Fact: He went public, exposed Rahul’s dirty politics - Alleged Gurkirat Singh Dang had 4 votes
Fact: Gurkirat himself hit back, called it defamation.
Take the case of Aditya Srivastava. Gandhi claimed he was registered as a voter in multiple States. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer refuted this outright, and Srivastava himself explained that he had merely re-registered each time he moved from Uttar Pradesh to Maharashtra, and then to Karnataka—as required by law. Similarly, Gurkirat Singh Dang, accused of being registered at four booths in the same constituency, clarified that the duplication was the result of a bureaucratic glitch. The Bagri family, dismissed by Gandhi as “fake voters,” was found genuine by the Election Commission. And then came perhaps the most symbolic misstep, Minta Devi of Bihar, erroneously listed as 124-year-old. What was clearly a clerical error was turned into political theatre, with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi donning T-shirts emblazoned with her name and face. Far from celebrating the exposure of irregularity, Minta Devi herself lashed out, accusing the Congress leaders of exploiting her identity without consent.
Disobeying Election Commission
Meanwhile, the Election Commission formally asked Gandhi to submit his evidence with voter IDs and constituency details under a sworn affidavit. He refused. This refusal was not an isolated case, it reflected a pattern. Whenever Congress loses, electronic voting machines are accused of being tampered with. But when the party wins, as in Himachal Pradesh or Telangana, the same machines are deemed flawless. This selective outrage exposes the strategic use of electoral suspicion rather than a principled defense of democracy.
The “Vote Chori” campaign took institutional form with the launch of the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar on August 17, 2025. Flagged off from Sasaram, the march is planned to cover 20–23 districts over 16 days, culminating in Patna on September 1. Gandhi and his allies in the INDI Alliance are protesting the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which is designed to clean up voter rolls by removing ineligible or duplicate entries. The irony is unmistakable. Gandhi demands a purge of fake voters in Karnataka, yet resists the very same process in Bihar especially in sensitive border districts such as Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar, and Purnea, where cross-border migration has long posed challenges to electoral rolls. On the very first day of the Voter Adhikar Yatra, stories that initially fueled the “Vote Chori” narrative began to collapse. Ranju Devi of Chapli village in Bihar alleged that six members of her family had been struck off the rolls. Yet, upon verification, the Election Commission confirmed that every single name remained intact; she later admitted she had been misled into making the claim on camera. Similarly, Subodh Kumar’s grievance that his name was deleted turned out to be baseless, the Commission clarified that he had never submitted Form 6, the mandatory application for voter registration. Even within the Congress ecosystem, the claims have proven shaky. Data cited by psephologist Sanjay Kumar of CSDS showing suspicious declines in Ramtek and Devlali constituencies and abnormal spikes in Nashik West and Hingna was quickly seized upon by Gandhi’s camp. But when Kumar realised his analysis was flawed, he issued a public apology and had to delete his earlier tweet. What was supposed to be statistical evidence turned into another embarrassment. Adding to the disarray, Karnataka Minister KN Rajanna questioned the validity of Gandhi’s allegations, only to be swiftly sidelined, revealing the party’s discomfort with internal dissent.
When Congress demolished Bharat’s independent institution
CECs rewarded post-retirement by Congress
- Sukumar Sen, the first Election Commissioner of India (1950–1958), was later appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Burdwan.
- Kalyan Vaidyanathan Kuttur Sundaram, the second CEC (1958–1967) was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1968 and also appointed as the Chairman of the Law Commission.
- Nagendra Singh, the fourth CEC (1972–1973), was also a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan.
- Ram Krishna Trivedi, the seventh CEC (1982–1985), was later appointed Governor of Gujarat and also served as the Vice Chancellor of Bundelkhand University. He received the Padma Bhushan.
- Ram Krishna Trivedi, the seventh CEC (1982–1985), was later appointed Governor of Gujarat, he also served as the Vice-Chancellor of Bundelkhand University. He was also conferred with the Padma Bhushan.
- RVS Peri Sastri, the eighth CEC, played a major role in drafting constitutional amendments before taking over as Election Commissioner.
- VS Ramadevi, the ninth CEC (1990), served for just 16 days and was later appointed Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.
- TN Seshan, the tenth CEC (1990–1996), after retirement contested the 1997 Presidential election and later joined the Indian National Congress. In 1999, he contested the Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar on a Congress ticket.
- MS Gill, the eleventh CEC (1996–2001), joined Congress post-retirement. He went on to become a Rajya Sabha MP (2004–2016) and served as a Union Cabinet Minister in two portfolios.
- JM Lyngdoh, the twelfth CEC (2001–2004), later conducted internal elections for Congress-backed student and youth wings such as NSUI and Youth Congress.
- N Gopalaswami, the fifteenth CEC (2006–2009), was also awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Beyond partisan skirmishes, what is at stake here is credibility. For democracy to function, the sanctity of electoral processes must be protected. India, with an electorate of nearly 970 million voters in 2024, runs one of the largest democratic exercises in the world. Its electoral machinery, while not perfect, has consistently been lauded for its robustness. Turnout remains strong, with the 2024 Lok Sabha election recording over 65 per cent participation nationwide, and institutions like the Election Commission enjoy constitutional autonomy. To accuse them of collusion without providing verifiable proof risks undermining faith not just in government but in democracy itself.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has rejected Gandhi’s allegations outright, challenging him either to submit sworn evidence or to retract his accusations. Until that happens, “Vote Chori” will remain less an act of whistleblowing than one of political theatre. A catchy slogan, no doubt it has trended across social media platforms but slogans are not substitutes for substance.
Carl Sagan’s wisdom bears repeating here: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Rahul Gandhi’s campaign has offered plenty of claims but little evidence. In the end, the real theft may not be of votes, but of the public’s trust in the seriousness of our politics. For a democracy of India’s scale, that is a far graver danger than any clerical error or bureaucratic glitch.
Comments