Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dropped what he called a political “H-bomb” on Wednesday, alleging large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections that he claims robbed his party of victory.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of manipulating the results by creating fake voters and tampering with electoral rolls. “Twenty-five lakh votes were stolen in Haryana — that’s one in every eight voters,” he declared. Gandhi said all exit polls had predicted a Congress win, yet the BJP emerged victorious under what he described as “arranged results.”
The Congress leader played a clip of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini appearing confident of victory days before the results, alleging the BJP had “made arrangements” to ensure its win. Gandhi also claimed that postal ballot outcomes ran contrary to polling booth results — a first in the state’s history — and that over 3.5 lakh voter entries were deleted before the polls.
To back his claims, Gandhi presented evidence of repeated voter photos in electoral rolls, including one image of a Brazilian model that appeared 22 times under different names like “Sweety,” “Seema,” and “Saraswati.” “She votes in 10 booths and has multiple identities — this is a centralised operation,” he said. Another woman’s photo, Gandhi alleged, appeared 223 times across two polling stations.
He accused the Election Commission of ignoring clear evidence of duplication, saying, “They can remove these duplicates in seconds, but they won’t — because they’re helping the BJP.”
The Election Commission dismissed Gandhi’s claims, questioning why Congress polling agents failed to raise objections during voting. “How can he be sure these voters all voted for the BJP?” a source asked, pointing out that even some Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera, appear in voter rolls of more than one state.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju rebuffed Gandhi’s allegations, calling them “fake issues.” “He’s talking about Haryana while polling is underway in Bihar — clearly trying to distract from reality,” Rijiju said. “Exit polls often differ from real results; this is nothing new. The BJP never questions the Election Commission when it loses — why does Congress do it every time?”
While Gandhi framed his claims as proof of a “rigged democracy,” the BJP maintained the allegations were baseless and designed to stir public anger. As political tempers flare, the controversy has reignited debate over election integrity and transparency in India’s democratic process.