The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been facing accusations of colluding with the Election Commission to commit voter fraud, launched a counter-offensive on Wednesday by alleging that former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had been illegally, albeit briefly, added to the voter list 45-years-ago, before she became an Indian citizen.
Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed that Gandhi, who was born Sonia Maino in Italy in 1946, was on the voter list from 1980 to 1982, a year before she acquired Indian citizenship. These allegations were a rehash of what BJP's Amit Malviya had posted on X just hours earlier.
Malviya's post included what he stated was a 'photocopy of the extract from electoral rolls of 1980, indicating Sonia Gandhi was a voter when she did not yet acquire the citizenship of Bharat.' He questioned, "If this isn't blatant electoral malpractice, what is?" He further claimed that Gandhi, who married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968, was added to the voter list while the Gandhi family was residing at the official residence of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Malviya alleged that her name was included during a revision of the voter list for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency, ahead of the 1980 Lok Sabha election.
He asserted that this entry was a 'clear violation of the law, which requires a person to be an Indian citizen to be registered as a voter. According to Malviya, her name was subsequently deleted from the list in 1982 following a public outcry. He also alleged that her re-inclusion in 1983, after she secured Indian citizenship, was also fraudulent, claiming that while the cut-off date was January 1, Gandhi did not become a citizen until April of that year.
Anurag Thakur also criticised Rahul Gandhi for his recent allegations of voter fraud during the last year's elections in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Thakur declared that the Congress MP was 'lying (and) presenting incorrect numbers,' directly attacking the PowerPoint presentations Gandhi had used the previous week.
In response to Amit Malviya's claims, anonymous Congress sources said that the allegations were an attempt to deflect attention from current, pressing questions. The sources said, "To avoid (these) questions, the BJP is raising questions about a 45-year-old matter... which is unnecessary." The Congress party has not yet officially responded to Anurag Thakur's specific comments.
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The Congress's 'vote chori' claims
Over the past few months, allegations of voter fraud in Karnataka and Maharashtra and potential fraud ahead of the upcoming Bihar election have garnered significant media attention. The opposition, spearheaded by the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, has accused the Election Commission and the BJP of collaborating to facilitate the casting of lakhs, potentially crores, of illegal votes in the previous year's elections.
Rahul Gandhi specifically claimed that over 1.02 lakh illegal votes were counted from the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Bengaluru, including 80 from the same one-room house. He argued that this alleged fraud cost them a Lok Sabha seat.
The opposition has also claimed that in Maharashtra, more than one crore voters were added to the voter lists months after the BJP's alliance lost the Lok Sabha election in the state. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance subsequently won the Assembly election held four months later.
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The 'special intensive revision' of voter lists in Bihar has also become a point of contention. The opposition has warned that this exercise is a tactic intended to disenfranchise lakhs of voters who might favour them. This matter is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.
The Election Commission has vehemently denied all of these charges, insisting that its procedures are transparent and designed to ensure free and fair elections. The EC has demanded that Rahul Gandhi submit his claims in a signed affidavit with supporting evidence. In a particularly strong rebuttal on Friday, the EC referred to a 2018 petition by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, stating that the Congress had "tried to mislead the Supreme Court".
Meanwhile, the BJP has criticised Rahul Gandhi for what it calls "maligning a constitutional body". Home Minister Amit Shah also mocked the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, suggesting they were anticipating a defeat in the upcoming Bihar election and were already searching for excuses. "You keep losing election after election... and now you are looking for an excuse for defeat even before this election," he stated in Bihar.
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