Onus on EC to counter Rahul’s ‘vote chori’ charge

A day before the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi turned the spotlight on the 2024 Haryana polls, in which his party had suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the ruling BJP. Citing electoral roll data to claim that as many as 25 lakh entries were fake, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the BJP to ensure its victory. This is Rahul’s biggest allegation of ‘vote chori’ so far — arguably his so-called H-bomb — and also his strongest attack on the ECI. Earlier this year, he claimed that such malpractices had taken place in Mahadevapura and Aland Assembly constituencies of Karnataka. His two-week-long Voter Adhikar Yatra in August was aimed at alerting Bihar’s electorate about alleged attempts by the BJP and the ECI to steal votes through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Rahul’s claim about one out of every eight voters in Haryana being fake does strain credulity, but it’s no doubt a serious charge that demands a thorough probe. He has tried to drive his point home by sharing the voter list of Haryana’s Rai constituency, where the photo of a Brazilian model was used 22 times in 10 booths, with names such as Seema, Sweety and Saraswati. This indicates that there were some wrongdoings; whether these were on a small or large scale is the question.

Poll panel officials are wondering why the Congress’ booth-level agents did not flag these irregularities at the time of the elections in October last year. That’s a valid point, but it doesn’t automatically give the clean chit to the ECI and the state electoral office. The authorities should counter Rahul’s allegations with concrete evidence instead of harping on the ‘why now’ question. At stake is the sanctity of the poll process as well as the ECI’s credibility. It’s vital to safeguard public trust in the entire exercise, especially amid the nationwide SIR.