New Delhi, Nov 5: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged massive electoral fraud in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, claiming that 25 lakh entries in the state’s voter list were “fake” and that the polls were deliberately “stolen.” He accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to ensure the ruling party’s victory.
Addressing a press conference at Indira Bhawan, Gandhi called the alleged manipulation “Operation Sarkar Chori,” aimed at converting what should have been a Congress landslide into a BJP win. He said his claims are backed by “100 percent proof” and cited electoral data to support his allegations.
Gandhi alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and two other election commissioners worked in tandem with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP to influence results. Highlighting irregularities, he claimed that one in eight voters in Haryana was fake and cited multiple examples of duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk entries.
“All polls pointed to a Congress victory. The five top exit polls predicted a sweep for Congress. Yet, for the first time in Haryana, postal votes showed a completely different outcome Congress won 73 seats in postal ballots, while BJP secured only 17,” Gandhi said.
During the presser, he displayed a photo of a woman appearing 22 times across 10 polling booths in the Rai assembly constituency, asserting that her image actually that of a Brazilian model was used repeatedly to manipulate votes. Gandhi claimed this was indicative of a centralised operation affecting 25 lakh entries statewide.
The Congress leader also played a video of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who two days before counting had stated that the BJP would win and “we have a system in place,” framing it as evidence of premeditated interference.
Gandhi warned that such manipulation threatens the future of young voters and Gen Z, emphasizing that the democratic process itself is at stake. He reiterated that thousands of voters may have illegitimately cast ballots in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, further undermining the electoral outcome.
In the 2024 elections, the BJP won 48 seats, Congress 37, the INLD two, and independents three in the 90-member Assembly, despite exit polls favoring a Congress sweep. Gandhi has previously raised similar allegations in Karnataka and in the Lok Sabha elections, accusing the Election Commission of protecting parties that “destroyed democracy.”