Sharpening his attack against the Election Commission (EC), which he claimed was “non-existent” amid alleged electoral “malpractices”, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Gujarat poll results had first triggered his “suspicion” which, he alleged, was “confirmed” by the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls.
Speaking at the Congress’s annual legal conclave in Delhi, Gandhi questioned the BJP’s “ability to win sweeping victories” and alleged rigging in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Right from 2014, I had a suspicion that there is something wrong… In fact, I had a suspicion in the Gujarat Assembly elections already… This ability to win sweeping victories… You will see with zero doubt how the election is stolen… You will see the shockwave that is going to go through the electoral system when we release this data,” he said, reiterating that “It is literally like an atom bomb.”
“The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. Remember one thing – the Prime Minister of India is the Prime Minister of India with a very slim majority. If 10-15 seats were rigged – and we suspect actually, the number is much closer to 70, 80, 100 – he would not be the PM… We are going to prove to you… how the Lok Sabha election can be rigged and was rigged,” he said. Gandhi was referring to the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha seat tally of 240, which was below the 272-seat majority mark. With its NDA allies, the BJP however formed the government for the third consecutive term.
Gandhi also cited data collected by the Congress from an Assembly constituency in Karnataka, where the party checked the photographs and names of electors physically and found 1.5 lakh voters were allegedly “fake”.
Referring to the legal community as the “backbone of the Congress”, he called on lawyers to defend the Constitution against being “systematically unravelled on every front”, alleging that the EC as an institution had been “obliterated and taken over”.
Gandhi has been repeatedly attacking the EC in recent months. His remarks echoed those he made Friday, when he first claimed to have an “atom bomb” of proof that the EC was “stealing votes” for the BJP.
Responding to Gandhi, the poll body said Friday, “The EC ignores such baseless allegations being made on a daily basis and, despite the daily threats being given, asks all election officials to ignore such irresponsible statements and work in a fair and transparent manner.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told the conclave that India was going through “a battle of ideologies”. “While the Congress is protecting the Constitution, the BJP is attacking it. The soul of India is enshrined in the Constitution… We will protect the Constitution at all costs,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi alleged that “a calculated, organised design” was at play “to convert democracy into dominance, pluralism into polarity, and the Constitution into a convenience.”
Row over Jaitley remarks
Gandhi also triggered a row with his comments on BJP stalwart and former Union minister late Arun Jaitley, whom he accused of “threatening” him with “action” if he continued taking on the Centre over the now-repealed farm laws.
“I remember when I was fighting the farm laws… Arun Jaitley ji was sent to me to threaten me. He said… ‘If you carry on down this path, opposing the government, fighting us on the farm laws, we will have to act against you’. I looked at him and said, ‘I don’t think you know who you’re talking to… because we are Congress people. We are not cowards. We are not going to bend’,” Gandhi claimed.
His remarks drew sharp rebuttals from the BJP and Jaitley’s son Rohan, who called the statement “in poor taste”, asking the Congress leader to be “mindful while speaking of those not with us”.
“Rahul Gandhi now claims my late father, Arun Jaitley, threatened him over the farm laws. Let me remind him, my father passed away in 2019. The farm laws were introduced in 2020. More importantly, it was not in my father’s nature to threaten anyone over an opposing view,” Rohan said.
BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh also criticised Gandhi, saying “Only sick minds can misrepresent people who are not there with us anymore”.
The Narendra Modi government had first brought the three farm laws through ordinances in June 2020. In September 2020, the government had replaced them with the Bills, which were passed by both Houses of Parliament. In the wake of farmers’ sustained agitation against the three farm laws, which included a year-long protest at the Delhi borders, PM Modi announced their repeal in November 2021.
Reacting to the BJP’s criticism of Gandhi, Manickam Tagore, the Congress’s whip in the Lok Sabha, said the LoP had “actually referred to the Land Acquisition Act”. “The truth is this: The meeting happened and Arun ji did what Rahul ji said. Kindly don’t try to divert from the truth,” he claimed.
Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said Gandhi may have taken the name of a deceased leader “once” but Congress leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were mentioned by BJP leaders “many times”. “Their (BJP’s) speeches start from there. PM Modi gave a speech on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, which began and ended with Pandit Nehru… Now they have got unsettled by the mention of Jaitley’s name just once,” Baghel said.