Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday sharpened his ongoing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission of India, reiterating his charge of “vote chori” (vote theft) while promising that his party will soon release what he described as a “hydrogen bomb” of evidence.
Mr Gandhi said that the Congress had “open-and-shut proof” of systematic manipulation of the electoral process.
“We are going to reveal a hydrogen bomb that is going to devastate completely the reality of the situation. We have open and shut proof on what we are saying. I am not saying anything without proof, we have 100 per cent of a number of things that have happened that are going to come out,” Mr Gandhi declared.
When pressed on whether this “hydrogen bomb” would specifically pertain to the Prime Minister’s Varanasi constituency, Mr Gandhi sidestepped the question. “That is for you to guess, that is for you to speculate. I will do my job, I will deliver on my job,” he replied.
Mr Gandhi’s remarks build upon his previous comments in which he alleged fraudulent manipulation of voter rolls. He cited alleged evidence of mass voter deletions and additions in specific constituencies, pointing to examples in Mahadevpura and Aland in Karnataka.
“We have shown it in Mahadevpura, we have shown it in Aland. We are going to show it in such a way that there will be no one in India who will doubt Narendra Modi ji has done vote chori and won the election,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi vs CEC
The Congress leader has repeatedly accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of shielding those involved in electoral fraud. On Saturday, he cited an ongoing investigation in Karnataka into attempts to delete over 6,000 names from the electoral rolls in Aland constituency as proof that the Election Commission’s credibility was compromised.
“There is a CID investigation going in Karnataka. CID has specifically asked for information on phone numbers that have been used to do vote chori. Gyanesh Kumar is CEC that the Karnataka CID is asking for. There can be no bigger indictment of the CEC than this. This is not my statement; this is the fact,” Mr Gandhi claimed.
BJP’s Pushback
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly rejected Mr Gandhi’s claims. Senior leader and MP from Patna Sahib, Ravi Shankar Prasad, on Friday accused the Congress leader of misleading the public and attempting to sow unrest, particularly among younger voters.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Mr Prasad criticised Gandhi’s recent posts on social media platform X, in which he said, “Desh ke yuva, desh ke students, and desh ke Gen Z will save the Constitution, democracy, and vote theft. I always stand with them. Jai Hind.”
Mr Prasad countered: “What does Rahul Gandhi want to convey by such posts? Is he trying to incite violence and create anarchy in the country? His act is against democracy, the Constitution, and the nation. I strongly condemn this unfortunate and unacceptable statement.”
The BJP leader further argued that Mr Gandhi had made serious accusations against CEC Gyanesh Kumar without verifying the timeline. “Rahul Gandhi has levelled serious allegations against the Election Commission without doing his homework. Gandhi made allegations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who was appointed only a few months ago, for a case dating back to 2023. How can he be responsible?” Mr Prasad asked.
