Rahul Gandhi charged the BJP with “vote chori” and manipulating the Election Commission through changes to EC appointment rules, CCTV retention laws, and commissioner immunity.
He raised three questions on why the CJI was removed from the EC selection panel, why immunity was granted to commissioners, and why CCTV footage can now be destroyed after 45 days.
Calling vote manipulation the “biggest anti-national act,” he demanded machine-readable voter lists, EVM access, and reversal of recent legal changes.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, launched an unrelenting onslaught in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accusing the BJP of engaging in the "biggest anti-national act" by undermining the concept of India through "vote chori" in cooperation with the Election Commission.
Gandhi asked three questions that, in his opinion, demonstrate how the BJP is "directing and using" the Election Commission to undermine democracy in India.
During a Lower House debate on election reforms, the Leader of the Opposition questioned why the Chief Justice of India was excluded from the panel that chose the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.
Why are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah so keen on who exactly the election commissioner is going to be, Gandhi said.
"No prime minister has done this in the history of India that on December 2023, this government changed the law to make sure no election commissioner is punished for any action they take while they are an election commissioner," he said.
"Why did the prime minister and the home minister give this gift of immunity?" Gandhi asked.
He also asked why the law was altered to permit CCTV recordings to be destroyed after 45 days.
Gandhi claimed that as a result of these actions, "a Brazilian woman" appears 22 times on the Haryana voters' list, and a series of electoral advertisements are designed just for the PM.
He claimed that the Election Commission of India was responsible for the theft of the Haryana election.
Gandhi asserted that the Election Commission is unwilling to implement electoral reform since it would be simple to do so.
Making suggestions, Gandhi said, "Give machine readable voter list to all parties one month before elections, take back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, tell us what is architecture of EVMs, give us access to the EVMs, and finally change the law that allow the election commissioners to get away with what ever he wants to do." "They (the election commissioners) are under the impression that this law will allow them to get away, but that is not the case, as we will change the law and do it retroactively," the former Congress president said.
He also asserted that India is not just the biggest democracy but the greatest democracy.
"The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote 'chori'. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country, you destroy modern India, you destroy the idea of India. Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act," Gandhi said, gesturing towards the treasury benches.
In his remarks, Gandhi recalled that on January 30, 1948, three bullets pierced the chest of Mahatma Gandhi, and Nathuram Godse assassinated the "father of our nation".
"Today, our friends (in the BJP) don't embrace him and push him away, as he is an uncomfortable truth. But that's not where the project ended. Everything, all the institutions, have emerged from the vote, so it's obvious that the RSS has to capture all the institutions that have emerged from the vote," he said.
After Gandhiji's assassination, the next step of the project was the "wholesale capture" of India's institutional framework, he alleged.
