The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of large-scale voter fraud in the Haryana Assembly elections as “false and baseless”. The party accused him of questioning the Election Commission’s credibility to cover up his own political failures. The remarks came after Rahul Gandhi claimed that over 25 lakh entries in the Haryana voter list were fake and that the mandate was “stolen” from the Congress. He said he had “100 per cent proof” to support his claim.
Responding to the allegations, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju said Rahul Gandhi was “trying to defame India’s democratic system”. Addressing a press conference, he alleged that the Congress leader “plays games in coordination with anti-India forces” and raises doubts about democratic institutions whenever his party loses an election.
Rijiju criticised Rahul Gandhi for not staying engaged with voters during elections and questioned his leadership style. “He goes abroad during elections, does not meet people on the ground, and later blames the Election Commission,” he said, adding that if Gandhi had genuine concerns, he should have raised them before the Election Commission of India or approached the court. “But he never does it,” the minister remarked.
The Haryana State Electoral Office rejected the allegations, stating that the electoral roll revision was conducted transparently. In the statement posted on X stated, draft rolls were shared with all recognised political parties on August 2, 2024, and 4,16,408 claims and objections were received and processed. The final rolls were published on August 27 and later given to contesting candidates on September 16. No appeals were filed against the rolls at the district or state level. The State had 20,632 polling stations and 1,031 candidates, with 86,790 polling agents appointed. The office added that no objections were raised during scrutiny after polling, and only five counting-related complaints were received. Results were declared on October 8, and 23 election petitions have since been filed. However Haryana state Electoral did not mention any duplicate votes and the name of Brazilian model shown by Rahul Gandhi in the Press Conference.
