BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi over Haryana 'vote chori' charge: 'Diversionary tactic before Bihar polls'
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has strongly attacked Rahul Gandhi over the claims of voter manipulation in Haryana. Calling it political drama, he said Gandhi is trying to distract ahead of Bihar elections. The Minister insisted the LoP should focus on serious issues.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hit back at Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi after he alleged that the Election Commission colluded with the BJP to secure victory in the Haryana Assembly elections 2025. Addressing a press conference, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju rejected Gandhi's allegations of massive electoral fraud and said the Congress leader was indulging in “diversionary tactics” before Bihar goes to polls. "Rahul Gandhi addressed the press to hide his failures. There will be polling in Bihar (tomorrow), however, he was sharing stories about Haryana. This shows that the Congress has nothing left in Bihar and this is why to deviate attention he is raking up Haryana issue," Rijiju said. He added, "I would advise him that being Leader of Opposition, he should talk on serious issues and not waste time over irrelevant issues."
Brazilian model photo claims termed political drama
Rijiju also countered Rahul Gandhi's accusations that a Brazilian model's photograph was used multiple times under different names in the Haryana voter rolls. Gandhi had accused the BJP and the Election Commission of "systemic manipulation” in the state, alleging that 25 lakh fake votes amounting to almost 12 per cent of the electorate had been used. Rijiju dismissed the allegations and said this was “politically motivated drama." He remarked, "Rahul Gandhi collects information from foreign trips and tries to apply it in India," while ridiculing the claim regarding the Brazilian model's photograph. The Union Minister said the LoP was spreading lies to hide electoral setbacks and should "behave responsibly as Leader of Opposition” instead of wasting time on "irrelevant claims."
What did Rahul Gandhi allege?
Notably, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cited electoral list data from Haryana to claim that 25 lakh entries were "fake" and the assembly polls last year were "stolen", as he accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to make them win. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he is questioning the Election Commission and the democratic process in the country and therefore, is doing so with 100 per cent proof.
Gandhi alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the two election commissioners colluded with the BJP to ensure its victory in Haryana and claimed that "they are in partnership" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'Operation Sarkar Chori' was launched to convert the landslide Congress victory into loss in Haryana, the former party president alleged. He also alleged that CEC Gyanesh Kumar is "lying" to the people of India when he stated that house number zero is given to homeless people and that is the reality of zero-number houses.
Gandhi's claim of fake voters
Addressing a press conference at the Indira Bhawan, Gandhi cited the electoral list of Haryana to claim that 25,41,144 were fake voters with multiple examples of duplicate voters, invalid addresses and bulk voters. "Why is the Election Commission not removing duplicates? It is because if it does so, it would result in fair elections and it doesn't want fair elections," Gandhi said.
"All polls pointed to a Congress victory in Haryana. The five top exit polls said Congress is sweeping. The other thing that was surprising was that for the first time in Haryana, the postal votes were different from the result. In postal ballots, Congress got 73 seats while the BJP got 17 seats," he said. Gandhi claimed that thousands of people associated with the BJP voted in both UP and Haryana.
ALSO READ: