‘EC no longer protector of democracy’: Rahul Gandhi calls poll panel key participant in ‘vote-chori’

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Gandhi alleged that what is being done in Gujarat as part of SIR is a "well-planned, organised, and strategic vote chori".Rahul Gandhi alleged that what is being done in Gujarat as part of SIR is a "well-planned, organised, and strategic vote chori". (ANI Photo)

Labelling Election Commission as the “main participant in this conspiracy of vote theft”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday repeated his charge against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) currently underway in India.

Gandhi alleged that what is being done in Gujarat as part of SIR is a “well-planned, organised, and strategic vote chori“.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the SIR of electoral rolls has been transformed into a weapon to destroy the constitutional right of “one person, one vote”, so that the BJP, not the people, decides who will be in power.

“Wherever there’s SIR, there’s vote theft. What is being done in Gujarat in the name of SIR is not any kind of administrative process, it is a well-planned, organised, and strategic vote chori,” Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

जहाँ-जहाँ SIR, वहाँ-वहाँ वोट चोरी।

गुजरात में SIR के नाम पर जो कुछ किया जा रहा है, वह किसी भी तरह की प्रशासनिक प्रक्रिया नहीं है – यह सुनियोजित, संगठित और रणनीतिक वोट चोरी है।

सबसे चौंकाने वाली और ख़तरनाक बात यह है कि एक ही नाम से हज़ारों-हज़ार आपत्तियाँ दर्ज की गईं।

चुन-चुनकर… https://t.co/LC9i5DP44y

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 24, 2026

Thousands of objections under same name

Gandhi said that thousands of objections were filed under the same name, calling it the “most shocking and dangerous thing”.

“Votes were selectively removed from specific communities and booths that support the Congress party. Wherever the BJP sees a potential defeat, voters are simply made to disappear from the system,” Gandhi alleged.

“This same pattern was seen in Aland. The same thing happened in Rajura. And now the same blueprint is being implemented in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and every state where SIR has been imposed,” he said.

“The most serious truth is that the Election Commission is no longer the protector of democracy, but has become a key participant in this conspiracy of vote theft,” Gandhi said.

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What Congress’ Gujarat unit claimed

Gandhi’s comments came in response to a social media post put out by the Gujarat Congress, alleging that “after the vote theft was exposed by the Leader of Opposition, Shri Rahul Gandhi, the BJP has adopted its next level model of election theft”.

“Election rigging means the theft of your voting rights, and this new game has come to light in Gujarat. According to the rules, the Election Commission, after the SIR, released the draft list and began accepting objections, setting January 18 as the final date. Only a handful of objections were received until January 15, but the real game began afterward. Under a conspiracy, millions of objections (Form 7) were suddenly submitted,” the party’s state unit claimed.

When the Election Commission released the 1.2 million objections, it became clear that rules were being flouted to target specific castes, communities, and regions, it said.

“Dozens of objections were filed in the name of a single person, ignoring the rules, to target a particular caste, class or area, in which the name was of someone and the signature was of someone else and the Election Commission remained a complete mute spectator,” the post further read.

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“When the main opposition party writes a letter requesting information about the objections, they receive no response, making the election rigging completely evident. This is because the Election Commission has mortgaged both its responsibility and accountability to the ruling party,” the party claimed.

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