‘Modi, Shah, Gyanesh Kumar are deshdrohis’: Rahul Gandhi says all elections rigged, d
‘Modi, Shah, Gyanesh Kumar are deshdrohis’: Rahul Gandhi says all elections rigged, demands CEC’s exit
M.U.H
24/09/202611
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed he was “100 per cent certain” that elections in India were being rigged, called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “deshdrohis” (traitors), and demanded the immediate resignation of Kumar.
Gandhi alleged that the destruction of votes amounted to an attack on the Constitution, the law-making system and democratic institutions. His remarks came after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally dissented against Election Commission decisions at least 14 times over a 10-month period.
Addressing a press conference at Indira Bhawan, Gandhi said, “100 per cent sure that elections are rigged. All elections are rigged,” while questioning how anti-incumbency appeared to have disappeared in India.
Gandhi began the press conference by showing purported videos of Shah and Modi. In one video, Shah is heard saying that the BJP would remain in power for 30 years, while another showed Modi raising the slogan “Abki Baar 400 Paar”.
“I come from a political family. No political leader can say or make such statements,” Gandhi said, arguing that such remarks could not be made by a political leader operating in a democratic environment.
He said anti-incumbency was a political force that eventually affected every government, citing the example of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who, he said, won the Bangladesh war but faced “massive anti-incumbency and pressure” within a year or two.
“The same happens to leaders after leaders. For some reason, it doesn’t happen to Narendra Modi, Mr Shah, or the BJP,” Gandhi said.
“We can understand the popularity of a person, the performance of a government but anti-incumbency completely disappearing? It does not exist in Iraq of Saddam Hussain and in North Korea,” he said.
Gandhi said the apparent disappearance of anti-incumbency had been a “fundamental question” for the Congress.
“We can understand the popularity of a person, understand the performance of a government. But can’t understand how anti-incumbency disappears. It doesn’t exist in North Korea. There is no democracy where anti-incumbency doesn’t work. We are looking for answer to where it went here. And we have found answers,” he said.
Gandhi said the Election Commission was the “institutional protector” of votes and alleged that its failure to protect them would have consequences for the entire constitutional system.
“The Election Commission is the institutional protector of this vote. It is their responsibility to protect the vote. And then everything arises from there. If the vote is destroyed, the Constitution does not function, laws are illegal and institutions mean nothing,” he said.
Gandhi claimed he was not making the allegations without evidence and said information already available was sufficient, in his view, to establish his claim with “100 per cent certainty”.
“These are the people who have done this. And I am not speaking in the air. I have shown it with proof. Let me tell you, there is already more than enough information to make this 100 per cent certain, not 99 per cent, a 100 per cent certainty, that Indian elections, Lok Sabha elections, 2024 elections, Vidhan Sabha elections are all being rigged,” he said.
Gandhi said Modi, Shah and Kumar were “deshdrohis” as they had “destroyed” the vote in the country’s democracy. He said what the CEC had done was an act against the Indian nation and demanded that Kumar resign immediately.
“This is an attack on the Constitution and the legal structure of the country. You were supposed to ensure that the vote was protected. We have enough information to prove this with certainty. There are going to be consequences to this. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed and sit silent. Those responsible will be punished,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi also suggested that Kumar should turn approver, saying that doing so would be an act of nationalism.
“PM Modi and Home Minister Shah are both going to be investigated for what is being done. They are at the top of this conspiracy and they will be investigated for what they have done to this country,” he said.
Gandhi further alleged that Modi and Shah had “attacked and destroyed the democratic architecture of this country”.
He also said that a person “destroying India's vote” was a “desh-drohi”, calling it an act against the Indian state and people. “We refuse to sit silent,” he said.
Gandhi hit out at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that he was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and was now being questioned by two election commissioners.
“Gyanesh Kumar was chosen by PM, Amit Shah and now two ECs are saying he's responsible for chaos, damage to our voting system,” Gandhi said.
During the press conference, Gandhi displayed photographs of industrialist Gautam Adani, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Gyanesh Kumar, describing them as “conspirators”.
“All elections are being rigged. The top of the list has conspirators. Mr Gyanesh is sitting there. Two election commissioners are raising on that man. I have been raising questions, and they were ignored,” he said.
Gandhi said the two election commissioners' objections had reinforced questions he had been raising about the functioning of the poll panel.
On his allegations of “vote chori”, Gandhi said the alleged theft of votes had consequences for the entire constitutional and legislative system.
“From vote chori comes kanoon chori, from kanoon chori comes sanstha chori. Today, the vote is gone; the law-making system is gone,” he said.
“If the vote has been stolen, MPs in Parliament are there based on stolen votes,” Gandhi added.
Gandhi said the vote was the foundation of democracy and the source of constitutional power.
“From the vote, the Constitution gets power and from constitution our laws are made,” he said.
“If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. It no longer has its power. If our Constitution is destroyed, our laws are illegal, and our institutions are attacked,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said he was “100 per cent certain” that both Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections were being rigged.
Earlier, Gandhi had said on X that the “enemies of the Constitution” had been exposed and that justice would be served, announcing that he would address the press conference at 4 pm with the hashtag “Vote Chori”.
The news report that preceded Gandhi’s press conference said questions had repeatedly been raised over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls within the three-member Election Commission by Sandhu and Joshi. According to the report, the two commissioners had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months, including four times on a single day, to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge.
The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three Election Commissioners.
