New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged large-scale voter fraud in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura Assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, accusing the Election Commission of aiding the BJP in “stealing” the election, media reports said.

His remarks triggered a sharp rebuttal from the poll body and the ruling party, which dismissed his claims as “fabricated” and “baseless,” according to an NDTV report.

Speaking at a press conference, Gandhi said a Congress-led internal investigation revealed that over one lakh votes in Mahadevapura were “stolen” through methods like duplicate entries, fake addresses, and bulk voters listed at a single location.

He claimed this manipulation helped the BJP secure a narrow win in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat.

“Our internal polling predicted 16 seats in Karnataka; we got nine. We looked closely at seven unexpected losses and zeroed in on Mahadevapura. This Assembly segment alone swung the outcome,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Alleged voter fraud mechanisms

A presentation shared by Gandhi listed six types of alleged irregularities:

Voters appearing multiple times in the same or different rolls
Entries with invalid or missing addresses
Multiple voters listed at one address
Poor-quality or unreadable voter ID photos
Misuse of Form 6 (meant for first-time voters)
Duplicate voter entries across states

Gandhi alleged that while the Congress alliance swept most Assembly segments in Bangalore Central, Mahadevapura stood out as an outlier.
“We found 1,00,250 fake or invalid votes. When we went to verify the addresses, either they didn’t exist, or only one family lived there.”

He also claimed the Election Commission’s "choreographed" Assembly poll schedules added to the suspicion, especially in Maharashtra, where voter additions surged.

“One crore new voters cast their votes in just five months. Our booth agents reported no unusual turnout, yet the EC said there was brisk voting,” he said.

EC, BJP hit back

The Election Commission responded sharply, demanding that Gandhi file an official declaration under the electoral rules if he stands by his allegations.

“Rahul Gandhi should be firm in signing this oath today and tweet it on his handle. If not, then he should withdraw his fabricated evidence,” a source from the poll panel said, NDTV reported.

The Commission also reminded him that any challenge to election results must go through the High Court via an election petition.

The official oath, under Rule 20 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, includes a declaration of personal knowledge of the named voter irregularities, with penalties for false claims under the Representation of the People Act and the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders accused Gandhi of undermining democracy. Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “It has become Rahul Gandhi’s habit to make baseless allegations, face defamation cases, and then apologise.”

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged Gandhi was “attacking constitutional institutions” and drawing from a family history of authoritarianism.

“This isn’t criticism—it’s part of a bigger conspiracy to delegitimise democratic institutions,” he said, according to the report.

Pradhan also pointed out that opposition parties, including Congress, failed to raise concerns when invited by the Election Commission during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar.

“Now the same parties are calling the EC biased only after electoral defeats. This hypocrisy won’t work,” he added.