Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of India (EC) of indulging in vote theft (“vote chori”) during Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He claimed his party has “open and shut proof” implicating the EC in electoral fraud favouring the BJP.

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Congress found “atom bomb” against EC

Gandhi said his investigation’s findings are an “atom bomb”, warning that once made public, the entire EC will be exposed with no place to hide. The six-month probe, he said, covered suspected vote manipulation in Madhya Pradesh, the Lok Sabha general elections, and Maharashtra, where he alleges mass voter roll irregularities occurred. 

Rahul asserted that those responsible with vote theft will be held accountable regardless of rank or retirement.

He reiterated, “We have 100% proof that the Election Commission is facilitating vote theft. Our investigation took 6 months, what we found is – an atom bom. Those who are doing this in the Election Commission, we will not spare them.  Wherever you are, even if you retire, we will find you. I have proof that ECI is working for BJP, once this gets revealed, ECI will have to hide their face.This is treason, nothing less than that. You are working against India … we will not spare you. Atom Bomb hain…fatega..to Election Commission kahi dikhega nei aapko.”

Gandhi said his party suspects poll irregularities in Madhya Pradesh assembly polls last year, then in the Lok Sabha polls and this went further in Maharashtra.

“We believe that vote theft has happened at the state level (in Maharashtra). Voter revision had happened and crore voters were added. Then we went into detail seeing that the EC is not helping and decided to dig deep into this,” he said.

Bihar SIR

On August 1, Rahul Gandhi and other opposition MPs formally requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to allow a debate on the ongoing SIR exercise in Bihar. They contend the EC’s revision process threatens to disenfranchise millions of voters ahead of the state elections. The issue has also escalated protests both inside and outside Parliament.

The INDIA opposition bloc is set to launch a 17‑day yatra across Bihar from August 9, aiming to mobilise citizens against the EC’s voter list revision. Opposition leaders assert the exercise is a ploy to delete names of poor and marginalised voters, and have pledged mass resistance including sit-ins and a planned march to the EC’s headquarters in New Delhi. Meanwhile, a video campaign from the Congress in Bihar accuses the EC of acting as a BJP proxy in the SIR, alleging mass deletion of legitimate voters for political gain, reports PTI.

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In response, the Election Commission defends the SIR as standard practice to cleanse electoral rolls of deceased, duplicate, and ineligible entries. According to EC data, during its 99.8% roll coverage, Bihar’s voter revision identified 22 lakh deceased names, 7 lakh duplicates, and roughly 35 lakh untraceable or relocated individuals. Draft rolls are being shared with political parties to allow objections as of August 1.