Rahul Gandhi Calls India's 2024 Election 'Stolen' in Delhi Rally Speech

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi says the 2024 general election was “an illegal election” and “a stolen election.” He claims 15 percent of India’s voters were removed from the voter lists afterward.

Gandhi spoke at the opposition’s Delhi rally on Sunday, Nov. 1. The Election Commission and the ruling BJP reject his claims, and he offered no proof in the remarks we reviewed.

What Gandhi Said

Gandhi spoke in Hindi, so the wording below is a translation. “For years and years, votes have been stolen in this country,” he said. He said this happened by deleting names from, and adding names to, voter lists.

NDTV’s translation says he claimed votes were stolen “through EVMs and by tampering with the voter list.” It quotes him saying that 15 percent of voters were removed after the 2024 vote. He also put the gap between the INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA at 3 percent.

He said the Election Commission’s own data “is saying this,” NDTV reported. He did not name the data set in that report.

Attack on the Election Chief

NDTV quotes Gandhi calling vote theft “the theft of every voice of India.” He said it amounts to “treason.” He then said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “will be removed” and “will go to jail.”

He added that without Kumar, Narendra Modi would not be prime minister and Amit Shah would not be home minister. Those are political claims, not findings.

Where the 15 Percent Comes From

Gandhi did not specify the source of the figure in the reports we reviewed. The likeliest link is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter rolls. The BBC reports it has removed more than 130 million names from draft rolls.

The 2024 electorate was about 980 million, according to Election Commission data. By our arithmetic, 130 million is roughly 13 percent. That is our estimate, not an official figure, and it does not confirm Gandhi’s 15 percent.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat gave similar totals. He said about 13 crore entries were removed, including 2.8 crore dead voters, and 1.9 crore names were added. A crore is 10 million.

The Commission and the BJP Push Back

The Election Commission says SIR removes duplicate, dead, relocated and ineligible voters. It says wrongly excluded voters can re-apply, the BBC reported. Shekhawat called it a constitutional exercise for “clean electoral rolls.”

The commission has dismissed Gandhi’s earlier claims as “misleading.” On Oct. 5 it said all commissioners approved the Bihar SIR order, upheld by the Supreme Court. It had earlier demanded a sworn affidavit or an apology over his “vote chori” charges.

BJP chief JP Nadda called the rally a “calculated conspiracy to plunge the nation into anarchy,” the BBC reported. The BJP also questioned the turnout, saying part of Ramlila Ground stayed vacant. It ran its own counter-march the same day.

Open Legal Questions

The Indian Express reported in September that Kumar made key SIR decisions despite objections from the two other commissioners. The poll panel said differences of opinion are normal. The Supreme Court has issued notice on a plea over the issue.

Opposition leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee, joined the rally. A symbolic “impeachment” of Kumar took place on Saturday and has no legal standing, the BBC reported. See our earlier report on the march and on the Election Commission dispute.