Rahul Gandhi Accuses Election Commission of Enabling Electoral Fraud, Claims Conclusive Evidence

New Delhi, Aug 25 : Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday, levelled serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of facilitating electoral fraud and compromising the integrity of the electoral process. Addressing over 1,500 delegates at the annual Legal Conclave titled ‘Constitutional Challenges – Perspectives & Pathways’, Gandhi claimed his party has gathered “conclusive evidence” exposing large-scale voter list manipulation and malpractices orchestrated under the watch of the ECI.

In a strongly-worded speech, Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission has “disappeared” as an independent institution and no longer functions autonomously. “We now have irrefutable proof that electoral fraud has been carried out with the complicity of the Election Commission. This is not an allegation—it is evidence-based,” Gandhi said.

He recounted that, for years, allies had expressed suspicions of electoral malpractice but hesitated due to a lack of concrete proof. “People would tell me, ‘Yes, cheating is happening but there’s no evidence.’ Today, I can tell you with complete certainty—we have the proof,” he asserted.

Detailing the party’s investigative efforts, Gandhi revealed that the Congress conducted a six-month-long manual audit of booth-wise voter lists provided by the ECI. He alleged that these lists were deliberately made unscannable and uncopyable, hindering transparency. “Why would the Election Commission distribute voter lists in a format that cannot be scanned or copied? It took us six months of painstaking work to break through this barrier,” he questioned.

Gandhi explained that his team manually verified 6.5 lakh voter entries, comparing photographs and names one by one. Through this exhaustive process, they allegedly uncovered 1.5 lakh fake entries. “We went entry by entry, photograph by photograph. The Congress Party has done meticulous work that exposes how voter lists have been tampered with,” he said, praising the party’s diligence.

He linked his concerns back to the 2019 Maharashtra elections, where despite a strong Lok Sabha showing, the Congress and its allies suffered an unexpected defeat in the state polls. “Three powerful parties simply vanished overnight. That was a red flag. Since then, we have been seriously investigating electoral malpractice,” Gandhi said.

He added that irregularities were first noticed in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, but recent months provided concrete documentation. “This is nothing short of treason. Tampering with democracy is a betrayal of the nation. And those responsible will be held accountable,” he warned.

Gandhi urged the legal fraternity to recognize the systematic dismantling of India’s constitutional architecture. “The Constitution’s framework was built by legal minds—by you. Today, that very framework is being taken apart brick by brick, both openly and in hidden ways,” he said.

His allegations arrive amid rising scrutiny over alleged voter list anomalies, including issues in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar, as well as electoral rolls in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Gandhi’s remarks mark an escalation in the Congress party’s offensive against the Election Commission, intensifying debates over the transparency and fairness of India’s electoral mechanisms.