Rahul Gandhi Renews Allegations of Voter Manipulation Against BJP

Gandhi pointed to a surge of 3.9 million new voters in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections as evidence of targeted interference. He further scrutinized the integrity of electoral rolls by highlighting data from West Bengal, where 91% of names struck off by SIR appellate tribunals were reinstated upon appeal. According to Gandhi, this indicates that nine out of every ten deletions were erroneous, effectively disenfranchising voters until after the polls.

The allegations extend to the current Maharashtra draft list, where 2.07 crore names were removed—a figure representing one in every five voters. Gandhi contrasted these shifting numbers, noting that the voter count dropped from 9.7 crore in the 2024 Vidhan Sabha to 7.78 crore in the latest SIR 2026 data. He argues that such volatility undermines public trust, asserting that a government predicated on manipulated lists has no incentive to listen to the electorate. These claims arrive as political parties mobilize for upcoming assembly elections in states including Goa, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.