On August 10, 2025, the Congress party, led by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, formally launched the “Vote Chori” campaign, targeting alleged large-scale electoral fraud during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with a sharp focus on Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency.
The campaign, accessible via the dedicated web portal votechori.in and a helpline, invites citizens to register their support against what Congress terms “vote theft.” It enables users to download purported evidence of electoral manipulation, demand transparency from the Election Commission (EC), and receive personalised digital certificates officially signed by senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, and Ajay Maken. Rahul Gandhi has called the alleged “vote chori” a “huge criminal fraud” and a threat to the democratic cornerstone of “one man, one vote.”
Alongside Congress, the INDIA bloc, which includes allied parties like the Trinamool Congress, has backed the campaign and plans further actions such as the “Matdata Adhikar Yatra” in Bihar starting August 17 to raise awareness about election integrity.
Allegations and Political Mobilisation
The allegations centre on widespread voter list manipulation and fraudulent inclusion of fake voters, with Congress citing over 1 lakh fake voters in just one assembly segment of Bangalore Central alone. Rahul Gandhi has accused a collusion between the BJP and Election Commission to facilitate this manipulation, calling it a crime against the Constitution.
The campaign portrays the electoral process as under “systematic attack” by the BJP, facilitated by an allegedly complicit Election Commission. The INDIA bloc’s support speaks to wider political mobilisation, with about 300 opposition MPs from 25 parties planning to march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters on August 11, 2025, as a protest against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls and alleged electoral malpractices.
This march, however, has faced logistical hurdles as the Delhi Police reported no formal permission application had been submitted.
Official Responses and Scrutiny
The Election Commission and Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer have firmly pushed back against the allegations. The EC has demanded Rahul Gandhi either submit formal proof backing his claims or issue a public apology for what it describes as unsubstantiated accusations.
Specifically, the Karnataka CEO has written to Gandhi requesting documents substantiating claims of double voting by an individual voter named Shakun Rani. This corresponds to Gandhi’s earlier press conference where he presented internal analysis and cited alleged data indicating voter list irregularities.
The refusal or delay in providing formal evidence has intensified the standoff, with the Election Commission maintaining its stance that free and fair elections have been conducted and dismissing the allegations as politically motivated.
Vote Chori is an attack on the foundational idea of 'one man, one vote'.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 10, 2025
A clean voter roll is imperative for free and fair elections.
Our demand from the EC is clear – be transparent and release digital voter rolls so that people and parties can audit them.
Join us and… https://t.co/4V9pOpGP68
