On Saturday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray joined Congress party president Rahul Gandhi in advancing the ideas of “vote chori” against contesting parties in the recent Assembly election, revealing the narrative of electoral legitimacy in India.
Earlier this month, in Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that the Election Commission was deliberately acting in the interest of the BJP to “fix” elections. At a press conference, he accused the Election Commission of conspiring to put fictitious voters on the electoral roll.
Referring to the Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka, he charged that more than 1 lakh votes were “stolen” out of 6.5 lakh votes.
Raj Thackeray expressed concern
While addressing members of the MNS in Pune, Raj Thackeray characterized electoral deception as old and stated that he had mentioned it as early as 2016–2017. “I had asked Pawar and Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee to boycott the Lok Sabha elections, and this would have been front page news in the countries of the world. But nobody took action. Now Rahul Gandhi has brought it up again. People are casting their votes, but their votes are being looted,” Thackeray said.
Thackeray also accused that since 2014, governments have been made by taking advantage of defects in the electoral process. Quoting the Maharashtra Assembly elections, he stated, “Even when BJP secured 132 seats, Eknath Shinde 56, and Ajit Pawar 42, neither victors nor vanquished could accept the outcome due to vote mayhem on a large scale.”
Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar
Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, initiated the 16-day Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, spanning almost 1,300 km, culminating in a mega rally on September 1 in Patna. At a rally in Sasaram, Gandhi accused the central government led by the BJP of removing names of poor citizens, Dalits, backward classes, tribals, minorities, and other weaker sections from the electoral rolls.
He cautioned that Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a part of a plan to “steal” elections and renewed the call for a genuine caste census, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not organize. Gandhi declared, “We will not let them steal this election. We will prevent vote theft and reveal the truth about SIR.”
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Sofia Babu Chacko is a journalist with over five years of experience covering Indian politics, crime, human rights, gender issues, and stories about marginalized communities. She believes that every voice matters, and journalism has a vital role to play in amplifying those voices. Sofia is committed to creating impact and shedding light on stories that truly matter. Beyond her work in the newsroom, she is also a music enthusiast who enjoys singing.
