India's Election Commission faces allegations of vote theft

Political tensions in India have escalated following allegations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding ‘vote theft’ and the integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of appointing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to ‘match-fix’ elections, alleging the CEC was previously used to recruit for the BJP while serving as an IAS officer.

Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have criticized the CEC, questioning the postponement of his scheduled events in Uttar Pradesh and demanding his resignation. They allege that the current system allows for the subversion of the people's mandate through technological manipulation and partisan appointments.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dismissed these claims as ‘shameful’ and ‘baseless,’ accusing the opposition of attempting to undermine constitutional institutions to compensate for political failures. The BJP cited an ECI press release stating that recent decisions, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and changes to Form 6, were conducted with the unanimous consent of all three election commissioners and were upheld by the Supreme Court.