Shashi Tharoor backs Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' allegations

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has come out in support of his party leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of collusion between the Election Commission (EC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in committing a “huge criminal fraud” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

'ECI must urgently act'

‘These are serious questions which must be seriously addressed in the interests of all parties & all voters. Our democracy is too precious to allow its credibility to be destroyed by incompetence, carelessness or worse, deliberate tampering. @ECIVEEP must urgently act & @SpokespersonECI should keep the nation informed,” said Tharoor in a post on X on Thursday morning (August 8).

The Thiruvananthapuram MP forwarded the Congress party’s X post titled “This is how Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat was stolen”.

Also Read: Rahul alleges mega 'vote theft' with Mahadevapura data; will Cong boycott polls?

Tharoor openly backing Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote chori” comes after a few difficult months for him when his loyalty has been questioned by some in the Congress party. His praise for PM Modi on Operation Sindoor, his controversial article on the Emergency, and his active part in the multi-party delegations’ mission to other countries to convey India’s stance on fighting terrorism drew the ire of a few of his party colleagues.

Rahul ‘vote theft’ allegations

In his most damning indictment yet of alleged rigging of polls by the Election Commission at the behest of the ruling BJP, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (August 7) meticulously laid out data of clear irregularities in the electoral rolls in Karnataka during last year’s Lok Sabha election.

In his 72-minute press conference, the crux of Rahul’s revelations was simple – the BJP was benefitting electorally because of wide-scale addition of dubious voters. He also alleged there were also issues of voter deletion and voter suppression, but admitted that he did not have documentary evidence to prove this claim.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi hosts his first INDIA bloc dinner; SIR, ‘election theft’ on menu

Rahul, during his presentation, said the alleged voter additions to the electoral rolls could be divided into five categories – duplicate voters, voters with fake or invalid addresses, bulk voters being registered with the same residential address, addition of voters without valid identifiable photographs, and lastly through the misuse of Form 6 (used for registering a new voter).

Rahul demanded access to machine-readable voter data for the past 10-15 years and CCTV footage from polling stations.

“If the Election Commission does not give us machine-readable data for the past 10-15 years and the CCTV footage, they are partaking in the crime,” said the Congress leader.

BJP rejects ‘bogus claims’

The BJP rejected what they called “bogus claims” of the former Congress president, and accused him of “insulting voters” by calling its victory in the polls a fraud.

Also Read: Is Rahul right in accusing the EC of helping BJP steal elections? | Capital Beat

The ruling party said his remarks stem from “frustration and anger” over the continued electoral defeats the Congress party has been facing.