ECI served notice to Rahul Gandhi over voter fraud allegations

Bengaluru / New Delhi: Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer has slapped a formal notice on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to submit concrete proof for his explosive allegations of large-scale voter fraud in last year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Gandhi, in a press conference last week, claimed that over one lakh bogus votes were added in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bengaluru through duplicate entries, fake addresses and mass registrations at single locations. He alleged that such manipulation helped the BJP sweep at least 25 seats nationally.

Citing a specific case, Gandhi said a 70-year-old voter, Shakun Rani, had voted twice. The poll office, however, says its records show she voted only once and that the document presented by Gandhi was not issued by an authorised polling officer.

#VoteChori हमारे लोकतंत्र पर Atom Bomb है। pic.twitter.com/jcLvhLPqM6

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 7, 2025

The notice directs the Leader of the Opposition to furnish names and details of voters allegedly wrongfully included or excluded, each supported by a sworn affidavit, as required under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

Similar notices have also gone out from the chief electoral officers of Maharashtra and Haryana, giving Gandhi 10 days to either provide evidence or withdraw his claims.

Meanwhile, Gandhi and other opposition leaders staged a protest march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi on Monday, accusing the poll body of failing to prevent “vote chori” and demanding a full investigation. Several leaders, including Gandhi, were briefly detained.