Tracking The Alleged Election Fraud - Timeline

 

Rahul Gandhi's press conference about fake voters has given the country what it has been lacking for years, a vocal opposition. And as days pass, it does seem like it is only getting stronger. The verdict that shall cannot be predicted at the moment, but it sure is a story that seems to be interesting to track. This blog post is going to do just that. 

If you don't know what has happened, here's a quick gist. 

On August 7, 2025, Rahul Gandhi held a press conference to present what he called a "huge criminal fraud" in the electoral process, particularly in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment, part of Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. He claimed over 1 lakh votes were “stolen” through tactics such as duplicate entries, fake or non-existent addresses, mass registrations at single addresses, blurred photos, and misuse of Form-6 intended for first-time voters. 

Highlighting individual examples, he cited the case of a 70-year-old woman, Shakun Rani, alleging she was listed and possibly voted twice. He displayed a document with tick marks, asserting it was issued by a polling officer. A similar case of Aditya Srivastava was also talked about; his name appears in multiple polling booths across states.

You can watch the entire press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPVF6ihjaz4

While watching the press conference, I seem to have gotten answers for a question many had forgotten. 

Why did 2 election commissioners quit?

The sudden resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections drew criticism about the Modi-led government and has raised questions about the transparency of 'free and fair' elections, stated an article by Mint.

Before him, Ashok Lavasa, who was next in line to head the poll panel, resigned as Election Commissioner. His resignation comes at a time when the Election Commission is preparing to hold the Bihar assembly polls amid the coronavirus pandemic, stated an article by the Economic Times.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) was not prompt in clearing the air. Instead of giving clarifications,  the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka posted on X, asking Rahul Gandhi to make the same claims under oath. 

https://x.com/ceo_karnataka/status/1953393121393283104

Eyebrows are also raised because of the lack of transparency. The election roll that the ECI releases is not machine-readable, a claim that Gandhi made during the press conference. The reason behind this is allegedly a way of avoiding scrutiny. 

With the Bihar SIR underway, where about 65 lakh names have already been removed, shrinking the voter list from approximately 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore, the importance of a machine-readable voter list is underlined. Without it, one will need to manually sift through all the names to understand who has been kept off the voter list. The ECI maintains that it is not legally obligated to publish a list of names removed or provide the reasons, but it has shared draft and booth-level data with political parties and assured that due process is being followed before any deletion.

In fact, EC did first upload a searchable draft voter list on its website. Which could have allowed people to search for their names, look for discrepancies and problem areas. However, on August 9, the Election Commission on Saturday replaced the digital draft voter lists in Bihar with scanned images of the voter lists on its official websites. The digital draft lists are machine-readable and easier to analyse for errors and patterns on a large scale. The scanned versions make this process harder.

Here's a report on the same: EC replaces digital draft voter lists in Bihar with scanned images that make finding errors harder

The ripple effect of this has started; many news portals and independent journalists are investigating the 2019 and 2024 polls, and due to a lack of transparency, many discrepancies are being flagged. Many are flagged in 2025 as well. Here are some,

1. BJP won Meerut with thin margin. Its 2 booths have 27% fake voters
2. Investigation: More than 5,000 Double and Dubious Voters from Uttar Pradesh make it to ECI’s Voter List for a Bihar Constituency
3. Exclusive: Bihar SIR rolls reveal 2,92,048 voters with house number ‘0’
4. Bihar SIR: 230 voters stay in single house

In the broader picture, 65 lakh may not seem much to many. However, let me put it into perspective (something I realised while researching). PM Narendra Modi won from Varanasi for third consecutive term however, with a victory margin of just 1.5 lakh votes. 

Now, here's a quint article that says, Bihar SIR: Deleted Voters Exceed 2024 Election Victory Margins in 24 Seats. 

Update on: August 15, 2025

The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to publish names of 65 lakh deleted voters in Bihar, with reasons for deletion, to ensure transparency in the electoral roll revision process. The court said Aadhaar and EPIC should be accepted for re-inclusion and ordered booth-wise lists to be widely publicised online, in offices, and through media. Of the deletions, 22 lakh were dead, 36 lakh had migrated, and 7 lakh were registered in multiple constituencies. The EC must submit a compliance report by August 22. Link

A little unrelated, but whenever there is a talk about voting and voters, EVM does come into the picture. But here's something I found interesting.  

Mohit Kumar was sworn in as sarpanch of Buvana Lakhu, Haryana, after the Supreme Court ordered the first-ever EVM recount on its premises. The recount revealed he had 51 more votes than 2022 winner Kuldeep Singh, overturning the earlier result. Mohit alleged 254 of his votes were wrongly credited to Kuldeep at one booth. Multiple legal challenges delayed the verdict, but the SC bench directed immediate notification of Mohit’s win, ending a 33-month dispute. Link

Please note: This is a developing story, this article will be updated with all the latest happenings.