Vote Chori row- Anurag Thakur’s ‘Vote Chori’ presser lands him in murky political waters

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, held a press conference on Wednesday, August 13, at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi to counter the allegations of 'Vote Chori' by Rahul Gandhi. His statements have raised more questions and drawn widespread scrutiny. Thakur presented what he termed as evidence of ‘vote chori’ in several constituencies like Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), Wayanad (Kerala), Diamond Harbour (West Bengal), Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh), and Kolathur (Tamil Nadu). He claimed that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, and M.K. Stalin all won the election through the inclusion of ‘doubtful voters’.

The Congress Party swiftly responded by questioning the ‘veracity’ of Thakur's claims. Congress leader Pawan Khera said that there is an 'understanding' between the BJP and ECI. He said, "It took us 4-6 months to bring forward this data of one Assembly constituency. They have brought out the data of two Parliamentary constituencies. How did they get it? This proves that they have an understanding with the EC." Pawan Khera went ahead and demanded the electronic voter list of Varanasi. He said that by raising the issues of Waynad and Kannuj, Anurag Thakur has validated the claims of voter irregularities.

”Those were the data from Wayanad and Kannauj. He says that there are fake votes there, too. So, he has proven what we have said. Anurag Thakur and BJP are raising the same question on EC that we had raised. So, they have proven what we said," said Pawan Khera.

Earlier, BJP IT Department Head Amit Malviya said in a post on X that Sonia Gandhi's name first appeared on the electoral roll in 1980, three years before she could become a citizen of India. The rhetoric is diverting the issue towards whataboutery instead of verifying the authenticity of the electoral process. The Election Commission, instead of restoring the sanctity of the democratic institution, is resorting to a war of words by repeatedly demanding an oath from Rahul Gandhi. ECI said that the use of ‘dirty phrases’ like 'chori' is being done to create a false narrative; ‘one person, one vote’ has been there in India since 1951-52. Rahul Gandhi responded, 'Interestingly, they haven't denied the information.'

The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the ECI for its reluctance to publish the deleted voter profiles on the Election Commission website, while hearing petitions challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in poll-bound Bihar. It directed ECI to publish the list of 65 lakh deleted voters and the reason for exclusion with a 30 day window to make corrections. ECI lamented when parties lose election they start blaming the electronic voting machines.