Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, has accused the Election Commission of vote theft. He presented data from the Mahadevpura assembly constituency in Karnataka as evidence. During a press conference, he addressed a question regarding whether the use of ballot papers instead of EVMs could solve the problem. Gandhi responded that neither EVMs nor ballot papers will be effective unless the Election Commission and the voter list are not compromised. He stated that fair elections require an impartial election commission, claiming that the current situation is like having an umpire on the opposing team.
Gandhi highlighted the compromised integrity of the election system, directly implicating the Election Commission in the alleged irregularities. He suggested that the judiciary should intervene.
Gandhi discussed internal surveys indicating that the Congress party anticipated winning 16 seats in Karnataka but won only 9. He focused on the Mahadevpura assembly constituency, analyzing data from the 2024 elections, which he received from the Election Commission. He pointed out the BJP secured 658,915 votes and won by a margin of 32,707 votes in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party received 115,586 votes in the Mahadevpura assembly segment, while the BJP received 229,632 votes. Gandhi highlighted the significant contribution of the Mahadevpura constituency to the BJP’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections. He alleged approximately 12,050 votes were stolen out of 650,000 votes in the Mahadevpura assembly.