Berlin, December 23: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday reiterated allegations of irregularities in India’s electoral process, claiming there were serious flaws in the country’s electoral machinery and accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of undermining democratic institutions.
Addressing a lecture titled “Politics Is the Art of Listening” at the Hertie School in Berlin, Gandhi alleged “vote theft” and manipulation of voter lists, asserting that the Congress party had raised these concerns repeatedly without receiving any response from the Election Commission of India.
“We have clearly demonstrated, without a shadow of a doubt, that we won the Haryana Assembly election, and we do not believe the Maharashtra Assembly elections were fair,” Gandhi said. He added that the Congress had flagged multiple instances of alleged irregularities, including duplicate voter entries, but received no clarification from election authorities.
Citing one such example, Gandhi claimed that a Brazilian national appeared 22 times on the voter list in Haryana. “We fundamentally believe there is a problem with the electoral machinery in India,” he said.
The Congress leader also accused the central government of systematically weakening India’s institutional framework. He alleged that investigative agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had been “weaponised” to target opposition leaders while sparing those aligned with the BJP.
“There is a wholesale capture of institutions. ED and CBI have zero cases against the BJP, while most political cases are against those who oppose them,” Gandhi claimed. He further alleged that businessmen supporting opposition parties faced intimidation, resulting in financial advantages for the ruling party.
Referring to what he described as an imbalance in political funding, Gandhi said the BJP had amassed disproportionate financial resources by using state institutions as instruments of political power.
Warning of a broader threat to India’s democratic system, Gandhi said the Congress would respond by building what he termed a “system of resistance” to counter the alleged institutional capture.
“We are not fighting the BJP alone, but their capture of the Indian institutional structure,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi is on a five-day visit to Germany. He has consistently accused the central government of manipulating elections through voter list irregularities, allegations that have been denied by the government and election authorities.
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