The opposition’s critique of Narendra Modi’s victories has changed over time, from claims of emotional manipulation in 2014, to EVM hacking in 2019, and now to allegations of “Vote Chori” in 2024. None of these allegations have been substantiated. The 2014 landslide victory was attributed to emotional manipulation, but PM Modi’s development model, backed by key welfare schemes and reforms, was a major driver. Claims of EVM hacking were once again disproved and countered by the Election Commission inviting scrutiny and introducing VVPATs for a more transparent system of voting. Despite this, the narrative persisted.
Misreading Data
In this series of discomfort with the ‘Modi factor’ by the opposition or some anti-establishment intellectuals, the “Vote Chori” claim was based on mere rhetoric and misinterpreted voter surge data in Nashik West and Hingna.
It is well known that people of Bihar are beneficiary of Aadhar, ration card, labour card, BPL card, Birth certificate etc but he believes the entire population of Bihar is excluded from mainstream Government schemes and administrative system
Sanjay Kumar, a senior psephologist and co-director of Lokniti-CSDS, later issued a public apology for misreading of data rows by his team. It is really a mockery of common sense because when the data series was showing a major surge of more than 40 per cent in number of voters from 2024 Lok Sabha election to 2024 Assembly election in Nashik West and Hingna, how it was possible not to recheck it before announcing it to the entire nation. It is well known among seasoned psephologists that a maximum increase of 27 per cent has been recorded in any single Assembly constituency within one revision cycle of the electoral rolls. The ECI has already circulated the notification that if more than 4 per cent increase is recorded, it must be rechecked by circulating the data to all parties’ BLAs.
Birds Of A Feather Flock Together
Earlier Sanjay Kumar posted data on X suggesting a dramatic increase in voter numbers between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in several Maharashtra constituencies. He flagged surges of approximately 47.38 per cent in Nashik West and 43.08 per cent in Hingna, as well as sharp declines in Ramtek and Devlali. These figures were quickly adopted by the Congress to bolster its “vote chori” (vote theft) narrative. Yogendra Yadav, a well-known activist and psephologist, entered the scene and supported Rahul Gandhi’s claim of duplicate voters in one Assembly constituency and that these duplicate voters benefited the BJP in some Assembly segments based on which entire Parliamentary constituency’s results were changed in their favour.
At the same time, Yogendra Yadav was, a petitioner in Supreme Court in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) case. On August 7, Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of more than 100,000 manipulated entries, including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations in Mahadevapura of Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency. Yogendra Yadav has supported or accepted all claims of Rahul Gandhi without seeing the data. If he accepts the existence of duplicate voters, then it should be natural for him to support the ECI’s drive to clean the voter list through SIR, yet he is protesting against it. He also defamed Bihar by claiming that less than 40 per cent of people in its villages have valid documents. It is well known that Bihar people are beneficiary of Aadhar, ration card, labour card, BPL card, Birth certificate etc but he believes the entire population of Bihar is excluded from mainstream Government schemes and administrative system.
A Coherent System
It escalated when Karnataka Minister KN Rajanna was asked to resign by the Congress party because he made some valid points. He said that when new voter list was made and circulated to all parties, it was done under the Congress-led State Government. At that time, no one objected to the duplicate voters of Mahadevapura. Neither Congress BLA reported, nor reported any duplicate names like Shakun Rani. It is a problem. There are duplicate voters because of many reasons such as the houses of many voters being at two places or more, mistakes done by local officials, wrong reporting by voters themselves and so on. To check these discrepancies, every year in January-February, the new revised voter lists are distributed to all political parties and made available for public. Anyone can object and apply for correction to District Election Office. All these facilities have been given and this system has been running smoothly since first General Election in Bharat.
Deliberate Creation of Confusion
In the age of AI and many sophisticated software, it is easy to read and convert the PDF voter list into digital format but Rahul Gandhi demands it from ECI even when he knows, the digital format data of ECI is classified and linked with ECI server and own database system. Many private companies like Viplav Communications, way back in 2008, cracked the duplicate voters and provided to its own client for making correction in coordination with District Election Office. Bangalore-based Rajneethi (a Political Consultancy Company) used AI and provided all duplicate voters lists to its own client much before the election; so that all corrections can be done. In a nutshell, many private, public or non-governmental agencies have been working in the field to fix the problem of duplicate voters in every election. These facilities are easily available, and Congress has been a major beneficiary. Sanjay Kumar, Yogendra Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and everyone in media know this. They have been accepting in every election that this duplicity in voter names or house numbers does not give any particular edge to one Political Party over other. It is rather compensating within an Assembly constituency.
The increase of 39 Lakh voters in Maharashtra from 2024 Lok Sabha to 2024 Assembly election seems but not unusual because in 2004, 29.5 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra, and in 2009, another 30 lakh were added in just six months. Why there was no hue and cry at that time? If it was not wrong, how 39 lakh is wrong because the base of existing voters in 2009 was less than the base of 2024?
A Larger Conspiracy
These narratives appear to be part of a conspiracy to malign the constitutional institutions under Modi regime to put massive pressure on Government, democracy and public, aiming to overthrow the present trajectory of development. Whenever the society becomes more inclusive with wider understanding of equal distribution of economic benefits like PM Awas Yojna, free ration and many such things, the people or party who have been votaries of instability come forward with divisive issues which can inject the seeds of apprehensions.
Nothing concrete or substantive was found in all allegations against ECI and electoral process but the credibility of Bharatiya democracy was maligned and globally debated
The Supreme Court rejecting the petition against Maharashtra election, Rahul Gandhi not ready to file affidavit, the ECI issuing videos of transparent SIR processes, involving many opposition local leaders and BLAs and much informed press conference by ECI have now revealed one other fact, why such things are happening in Bharat — and with what motives. In relation to the petition against Maharashtra election, the Supreme Court added, “There is no other material whatsoever, much less of any authenticity, to the effect that there was any malpractice, fraud or complaint of any nature in regard to the voting at the closing hours of the poll, ie at about 6 pm.” Nothing concrete or substantive was found in all allegations against ECI and electoral process but the credibility of Bharatiya democracy was maligned and globally debated. This is clear malafide to demean the mandate of people in Bharat or trying to weaken the image of Modi worldwide.
