BJP flips Congress’s ‘vote theft’ claim, flags fake voter rolls in Opposition’s bastions

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New Delhi: In a classic tit-for-tat move, the BJP has now accused senior INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee and MK Stalin, of benefiting from alleged fake voters in their constituencies.

At a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday (August 13), BJP leader Anurag Thakur presented data that he claimed cited irregularities in six Opposition-ruled constituencies. These are: Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour, Kannauj, Mainpuri, and Kolathur. He alleged the presence of duplicate entries, false addresses, fabricated relatives, manipulated ages, and mass voter additions.

‘Ghuspaithiya vote bank’

According to the BJP, Wayanad had over 93,000 suspicious voters, including more than 20,000 duplicates. Rae Bareli was said to have over two lakh doubtful entries, including 71,977 with false addresses. Diamond Harbour reportedly had nearly 2.6 lakh irregular entries, while Kannauj and Mainpuri were alleged to have over 2.9 lakh and 2.5 lakh doubtful voters, respectively. Kolathur, Stalin’s constituency, was said to have almost 20,000 such entries.

Thakur said the Opposition opposed the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process because it would “clean up” such lists, accusing them of “appeasement politics” and relying on what he termed the Ghuspaithiya (intruder) vote bank.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also raised questions about Sonia Gandhi’s name allegedly appearing on the voter rolls in 1980, three years before she became an Indian citizen. Earlier in the day, he posted on X (formerly Twitter), claiming that her inclusion at that time violated electoral laws, calling it “blatant malpractice.”