‘Vote Theft’ an Atom Bomb on Our Democracy, Rahul Gandhi’s Revelations Raise Questions on Election Commission’s Credibility

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has brought the issue of ‘vote theft’ in the 2024 general elections into sharp focus with evidence-based revelations, particularly spotlighting the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency.

On August 7 in New Delhi, Rahul presented ‘explosive evidence’ of electoral fraud, including irregularities in voter lists, suspicious turnout patterns, and the concealment of electronic data. He described vote theft as an ‘atom bomb on our democracy.’

This seat was retained by BJP’s P.C. Mohan for the fourth consecutive time, but with a reduced margin of 32,707 votes compared to 70,968 votes in 2019 and 1,37,500 votes in 2014.

 The narrow defeat of AICC Secretary Mansoor Ali Khan has forced Congress election strategists to deeply analyze the 2024 election data.

After the 2008 delimitation, Bengaluru Central was separated from Bengaluru North and South constituencies. Of the eight assembly segments in this Lok Sabha constituency, Congress represents five, and BJP three.

The constituency has a significant minority voter population, which is one reason Congress has fielded Muslim or Christian candidates since 2009.

 The BJP, on the other hand, has consistently backed P.C. Mohan, who belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The constituency has approximately five lakh Muslim voters and six lakh OBC voters.

In the 2024 general elections, Khan managed to secure a strong lead in Congress-represented assembly segments, raising initial hopes of wresting the seat from the BJP. However, results in Mahadevapura (one of the largest reserved constituencies) and Rajajinagar tilted the scales in favor of the BJP. During his August 7 press conference, Rahul claimed that 1 lakh votes out of 6.5 lakh in Mahadevapura were ‘stolen.’

Belonging to the Lambani community, Rathod claimed that 99 percent of his community voted for him, but an analysis later revealed that around 32,000 Lambani votes went to the BJP candidate.

Rathod alleged, “We suspected foul play with EVMs, and in the 2023 assembly elections, 4,000 proxy voters with duplicate voter cards were caught in Bhutnal, a Lambani Thanda (revenue area) in Vijayapura.”

Rahul Gandhi’s protest in Bengaluru on August 8 was significant as it occurred amid a national debate over alleged widespread voter list manipulations, particularly in light of recent events in Bihar and Maharashtra.

 Although Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer and the Election Commission have dismissed the allegations as ‘misleading,’ the detailed manner in which Rahul Gandhi presented the issue has once again raised questions about the Election Commission’s credibility.