Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday levelled serious allegations against the Central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing them of large-scale electoral malpractices in the recently held Haryana Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi claimed that the elections were manipulated through a “centralised operation” to alter the results and prevent the Congress party from securing victory in the state. He alleged that fake voters were systematically created and used across multiple constituencies.
During the press briefing titled ‘H files’, Gandhi presented what he described as evidence of large-scale irregularities. Displaying the photograph of a Brazilian model, he claimed that she had allegedly voted 22 times in Haryana from 10 different polling booths using various names, including Seema, Sweety, Rashmi, and Saraswati. “She is not from Haryana; she is a model from Brazil. This shows that a centralised operation was carried out from the top,” Gandhi stated.
He further alleged that the scale of the irregularities extended beyond isolated incidents and involved an estimated 25 lakh fake votes out of the two crore officially registered voters in Haryana. According to Gandhi, the alleged “vote theft” occurred under five categories — duplicate voters, invalid addresses, bulk voters, and other forms of manipulation.
“These manipulations were not limited to a few constituencies like Aland or Mahadevpura, where we had earlier raised concerns, but were conducted across the entire state,” Gandhi asserted. He accused the ruling establishment of orchestrating the operation to “steal” the mandate of the people of Haryana.
He added that the Congress party’s internal analysis and reports had revealed widespread discrepancies between actual votes cast and the official tallies declared by the Election Commission. Gandhi suggested that similar operations could be carried out in other states, cautioning that Bihar might be the next target.
In an emotional appeal directed toward young voters, Gandhi urged Generation Z to take cognizance of what he described as a serious threat to democracy. “It’s your future that’s being taken away, your dreams that are being stolen, and it’s happening right before your eyes,” he said.
The Congress leader’s remarks come amid growing political tension following the declaration of the Haryana Assembly results, which saw the ruling party return to power amid allegations of electoral misconduct from the opposition.
The Election Commission of India has not yet issued an official response to Gandhi’s claims. Meanwhile, party sources indicated that the Congress is likely to submit a formal complaint to the Commission, demanding an independent inquiry into the alleged electoral fraud and the verification of voter data across multiple constituencies.
