Rahul Gandhi told the Congress Working Committee that polls were being manipulated through EVMs and voter lists. The remarks sharpened the party’s call for resistance and action against the Election Commission.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi told the Congress Working Committee on Tuesday that there were two forms of poll “match-fixing” in the country — through EVMs and through tampering with voter lists — and said the Congress should stay firm on the path of “virodh” and “pratirodh”, from the streets to Parliament, sources said.
Speaking at the CWC meeting at Indira Bhawan, Gandhi said revelations about the Election Commission were now coming out in the open because of the Congress. He also said the party’s campaign on “vote chori” had changed the atmosphere over the past two years, with the issue now being discussed in the media and in editorials, according to sources.
During the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Gandhi said the Congress had raised the issue strongly and pointed to alleged irregularities in polls in Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, though many had earlier been sceptical, sources said. “So, there are two forms of match-fixing: EVM match-fixing and voter list match-fixing, both are happening,” he was quoted as saying.
Gandhi also said there was no doubt that the 2024 election was “completely fixed and rigged”, sources said. He said the laws enacted after that, especially the December 2023 law granting immunity to the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners, were illegal, according to sources.
In his message to party leaders, Gandhi said the Congress should not move away from “virodh” as well as “pratirodh” from the streets to Parliament. Recalling the 1930 Congress session in Lahore, he said that when the British denied even provincial autonomy to the Indian National Congress, it chose the path of “Purna Swaraj”. He said that as the present government was refusing to listen to the voice of the people or their demands, parties that believed in democracy had only one way forward — to resist.