Rahul Gandhi steps up attack on EC; says 2024 Lok Sabha poll was 'rigged'

Public Lokpal
August 02, 2025

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Rahul Gandhi steps up attack on EC; says 2024 Lok Sabha poll was 'rigged'

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stepped up his attack on the Election Commission, alleging that the 2024 Lok Sabha election was "rigged" and that the election system in India is dead.

Addressing the inaugural function of the day-long legal conclave on the theme 'Constitutional Challenges: Perspectives and Pathways', the former Congress president reiterated that his party has proof regarding election rigging, which when released would be nothing short of an "atom bomb."

"You will see the shockwave that is going to go through the electoral system when we release this data. It is literally like an atom bomb," Gandhi said.

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won the elections on a significantly lower margin, would not have been sitting in his chair had there been a difference of a few seats.

"The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. Please remember one thing that the prime minister of India enjoys a very slim majority. If 10-15 seats were rigged, and we suspect the actual figures to be closer to 70-80 to 100, he would not have been the prime minister of the country," Gandhi said.

He cited data collected by the Congress from an Assembly constituency in Karnataka, where the party checked the photographs and names of electors physically and reportedly found out that 1.5 lakh votes were "fake" out of a total of 6.5 lakh voters.

"In the coming few days, we are going to prove to you without any doubt how a Lok Sabha election can be rigged, and it was rigged," he alleged.

Sharpening his attack on the Election Commission, Gandhi said, "It's very clear that the institution that protects this (Constitution), and defends it has been obliterated and taken over."

Gandhi also said that he did not have the proof earlier and that is why he could not make such statements before.

"But, I am making this statement confidently now because I have 100 per cent proof. And, whoever I have shown it to has fallen off the chair. They literally said how can it be possible. But it is possible, it's happening, literally," he claimed.

Gandhi said he has been speaking about the election system, as he always had a suspicion that there was something wrong.

"Right from 2014, I had a suspicion that there is something wrong, something is not adding up. I had suspicion about the Gujarat Assembly elections... About this ability to score sweeping victories. Congress doesn't get a single seat in Rajasthan, doesn't get a single seat in Madhya Pradesh, doesn't get a single seat in Gujarat.. This was surprising to me," he said.

Speaking at the conclave, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge echoed Gandhi's statements and alleged that the Election Commission has become a "puppet" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Claiming that 65 lakh voters were being disenfranchised in Bihar under the SIR, he said the EC "wants to take away" the voting rights of all the poor and marginalised and minorities, who would otherwise vote for the Congress as they were "fed up" with the BJP rule.

Alleging that voters were "changed" in the Maharashtra Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections, he said the Congress now has "proof" as Rahul Gandhi also explained how voters were changed in an assembly constituency in Karnataka.

"How can there be nine voters in a small room and nine thousand voters in a single hostel in Maharashtra? Then you should understand this: Is this Election Commission or Modi ji's puppet?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday challenged Rahul Gandhi to detonate the "atom bomb of evidence' against the Election Commission.

"Rahul Gandhi says he is in possession of an atom bomb. If it is so, he should detonate it at once. He should just ensure that he is himself out of harm's way," Singh said, while addressing a function organised by a media house in Patna.

The former BJP president said the Election Commission of India is an institution that enjoys a reputation for unquestionable integrity.

"It is pulling out all the stops to ensure that the upcoming assembly polls in the state are held in a free and fair manner. It does not behove the Leader of the Opposition to make frivolous statements about a constitutional body," he said.

Agency