Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Aug 9, 2025

Fraud in voter rolls & the electoral process

Presenting well researched data at a press conference on August 7, 2025, Rahul Gandhi the Congress party leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha made explosive allegations of a large scale fraud in electoral rolls and suggests manipulation of elections in India. (See links below to the videos) It is very creditable of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party to have undertaken such a meticulous and difficult investigation into voter rolls, something the media should now further supplement and investigate. The data presented makes serious allegations and the Election Commission of India (ECI) must respond to these in a very satisfactory manner. The credibility of the Election Commission of India as an autonomous constitutional entity is at stake. Over the recent years there have been multiple problems raised over the way the election commissioners are chosen and appointed. The Election Commission has been seen to lax over violations by leaders of the ruling party, the BJP, of the Model Code of Conduct during elections & election campaigns. There have been huge concerns raised over possible manipulation of the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and their storage, but the ECI has mostly rejected these concerns, including the reasonable demands for Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs). The recently conducted Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar —making voter suppression is a big concern and there are fears about conduct of an SIR in West Bengal is now an issue on which protests are being organised by the opposition. The scheduling of elections and their conduct spread over weeks has already been a problem raised by citizens’ groups. All opposition political parties and democrats must now join hands to educate the public to be vigilant and to act to protect the integrity of the electoral process and ensure the accountability of the Election Commission of India. Demanding scrutiny and impartiality of democratic institutions will be a great service in defence of India’s democracy.

August 9, 2025 —HK

Reference material:

Presentations by Rahul Gandhi on how the How Voters’ Lists are being played with:

• Short 17-minute video clip: https://youtu.be/TVEiACVifX4
• Full video: https://www.youtube.com/live/KPVF6ihjaz4