BENGALURU: The Congress on Friday continued to reiterate its ‘Vote Chori’ allegations on a day when the NDA swept the Bihar Assembly elections.
Hitting out at the Election Commission of India (ECI), senior Congress MLC BK Hariprasad said, “I congratulate the Election Commission for their successful operation in demolishing the entire democratic system.”
Bihar may have delivered a crystal clear mandate on paper—a decisive majority for the BJP-led NDA in the 243-member House—but in Congress corridors, the whispers are louder than the numbers.
“What can you expect with the removal of lakhs of voters,” a senior national Congress leader muttered privately.
The party’s operatives point to what they call “anomalies” in the shadows — Special Intensive Revision (SIR), “delayed” EVM movement, “mysteriously altered voter lists”, and “model code enforcement” that they allege seemed to appear and disappear with surgical precision.
One insider described it as “selective vigilance,” the kind “that tilts the ground before the first vote is even cast”.
Meanwhile, the party leadership tried to temper the fire. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar offered a measured tone saying that they accept the people’s mandate.
But Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge could not mask the unease. “This verdict is difficult to accept. Winning and losing are part of the game—but I am not sure this reflects the true mandate,” Priyank, son of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, said.
AICC Secretary Mansoor Khan, who made the fake vote addition allegation in Bangalore Central Parliament Constituency in 2024, said, “We are not only fighting against the NDA\BJP but against the EC too. In Bihar’s Belaganj where 15,000 deletions occurred, the opposition candidate lost by about 2,000 votes, In Bakhtiyarpur, where about 9,000 deletions happened, the opposition candidate lost by about 9,000 votes, in Hathao where about 34,000 deletions happened, the opposition candidate lost by about 12,000 votes.’’
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and MLA BR Patil who made ‘Vote Chori’ allegations in Aland constituency, said that the Election Commission has manipulated the polls in a systematic and calculated way.
Hariprasad, a man who was general secretary of the Congress 16 times, framed the “EC’s conduct not as incompetence but as a choreographed strike”—“an operation,” he said—”invoking the language of covert missions and clandestine sabotage”. His charge echoes a growing belief within the I.N.D.I.A bloc that institutions once neutral are now being influenced.
Analysts say Hariprasad’s outburst is not mere frustration but a signal flare—an indication that the party may escalate its demands for sweeping electoral reforms, including tamper proof and credible voter lists, deeper audits of EVM protocols and tighter scrutiny of polling officials.
Meanwhile, the Congress has planned a protest in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Saturday to highlight its ‘Vote Chori’ allegations.