LoP Rahul Gandhi presented facts responsibly, says Mir on ‘vote chori’

Anantnag, Aug 09: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi has presented the facts in a very responsible manner, and it is now the role of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to verify them, senior Congress leader and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Dooru, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said on Friday, commenting on the alleged “vote chori” in Karnataka and Maharashtra.Mir referred to a detailed press conference held days earlier by Gandhi, who accused the ECI of “vote chori” and claimed that in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, 1,00,250 “fake votes” were added in a single Assembly segment.“This is not an empty or baseless allegation,” Mir said. “If we had to make such claims casually, we could have done it during the six months of the elections. But doubts arose in Maharashtra and other states, prompting a thorough investigation.”Mir said it took six months for the Congress fact-finding team to complete its research. “When a responsible leader of the Opposition presents such facts, there must be a strong basis for them. After six months of work, the findings were placed before the country and the world,” he said.Citing Maharashtra, the Congress leader said the ECI’s own figures show unprecedented growth in the electoral rolls. “In five years between the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the voter count increased by 50 lakh, which matches the population growth rate. But in just five months, from May 2024 to the Assembly polls in 2025, it rose by 54 lakh. This defies common sense,” he said.According to Mir, in one Lok Sabha constituency with seven Assembly segments, a party lost in six segments but won the seventh by a margin of over one lakh votes. “When we investigated, we found more than one lakh fake votes—many anonymous, with mismatched names or photographs, and even voters who do not exist,” he alleged.Mir said the credibility of the ECI is crucial in a democracy. “If the Election Commission overlooks such serious violations, the trust of 140 crore Indians will be shaken,” he said, adding that the ECI must examine the facts and clarify the matter, even if it requires affidavits or additional scrutiny.The MLA said the Congress formed a fact-finding team immediately after the elections to gather ground reports from all seats. “Many issues have emerged, but the exact technical count of fake voters is still under investigation,” he added.