Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed he was “100 per cent certain” that elections in India were being rigged, alleging that the destruction of votes amounted to an attack on the Constitution, the law-making system and democratic institutions.
Gandhi called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, while reiterating his earlier claims of “vote chori”. Gandhi’s remarks followed an Indian Express investigation revealing that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally dissented against Commission decisions at least 14 times over a 10-month period.
Addressing a press conference, Gandhi said, “100 per cent sure that elections are rigged. All elections are rigged,” while questioning how anti-incumbency appeared to have disappeared in India.
Gandhi began the press conference by showing a purported video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in which Shah is heard saying that the BJP government would remain in power for 30 years.
“I come from a political family. No political leader can say or make such statements,” Gandhi said, referring to the purported remarks.
He said anti-incumbency was a political force that eventually affected every government, citing the example of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who, he said, won the Bangladesh war but faced “massive anti-incumbency and pressure” within a year or two.
“The same happens to leaders after leaders. For some reason, it doesn’t happen to Narendra Modi, Mr Shah, or the BJP,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said the movement of electoral support between states and the apparent absence of anti-incumbency had been a “fundamental question” for the Congress.
“We can understand the popularity of a person, understand the performance of a government. But can’t understand how anti-incumbency disappears. It doesn’t exist in North Korea. There is no democracy where anti-incumbency doesn’t work. We are looking for answer to where it went here. And we have found answers,” he said.
Gandhi said the Election Commission was the “institutional protector” of votes and alleged that its failure to protect them would have consequences for the entire constitutional system.
“The Election Commission is the institutional protector of this vote. It is their responsibility to protect the vote. And then everything arises from there. If the vote is destroyed, the Constitution does not function, laws are illegal and institutions mean nothing,” he said.
Gandhi claimed he was not making the allegations without evidence and said information already available was sufficient, in his view, to establish his claim with “100 per cent certainty”.
“These are the people who have done this. And I am not speaking in the air. I have shown it with proof. Let me tell you, there is already more than enough information to make this 100 per cent certain, not 99 per cent, a 100 per cent certainty, that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 elections, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged,” he said.
Gandhi further alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had “attacked and destroyed the democratic architecture of this country”.
He also said that a person “destroying India's vote” was a “desh-drohi”, calling it an act against the Indian state and people. “We refuse to sit silent,” he said,.
Gandhi claimed that Modi and Shah would be investigated for a conspiracy to “steal elections”, adding that the Congress would not allow democracy to be “demolished” and would not remain silent.
Gandhi hit out at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, he said Kumar was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and was now being questioned by two election commissioners.
“Gyanesh Kumar was chosen by PM, Amit Shah and now two ECs are saying he's responsible for chaos, damage to our voting system,” Gandhi said.
During the press conference, Gandhi displayed photographs of industrialist Gautam Adani, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Gyanesh Kumar, describing them as “conspirators”.
“All elections are being rigged. The top of the list has conspirators. Mr Gyanesh is sitting there. Two election commissioners are raising on that man. I have been raising questions, and they were ignored,” he said.
On his allegations of “vote chori”, Gandhi said the alleged theft of votes had consequences for the entire constitutional and legislative system.
“From vote chori comes kanoon chori, from kanoon chori comes sanstha chori. Today, the vote is gone; the law-making system is gone,” he said.
“If the vote has been stolen, MPs in Parliament are there based on stolen votes,” Gandhi added.
Gandhi said the vote was the source of constitutional power and argued that any destruction of votes would consequently undermine the Constitution.
“From the vote, the Constitution gets power and from constitution our laws are made,” he said.
“If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. It no longer has its power. If our Constitution is destroyed, our laws are illegal, and our institutions are attacked,” Gandhi said.
