Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on the alleged “vote chori” in Haryana drew sharp reactions from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju advising the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha to discuss “serious issues.”
Rijiju brought up Minta Devi, a woman whose photograph Gandhi had used in a previous press conference. The union minister said that Minta Devi had ‘scolded’ Congress for that act.
“It clearly shows there is nothing left for him in Bihar, so to divert attention, he is now bringing up the issue of Haryana. He has also made a presentation about irrelevant matters. I don’t want to go into that because it was all fake. He even mentioned the name of a foreign woman,” Rijiju in a press conference.
During elections, he goes abroad; during Parliament sessions, he secretly visits places like Cambodia and Thailand. Now, during the Bihar elections, he went to Colombia. So, when he goes abroad, he brings back certain ideas from there, gives them to his team, and they prepare these baseless narratives, wasting everyone’s time. Politicians should talk about serious issues, not indulge in such futile matters. This is my first suggestion to him,” he added.
Rijiju alleged that Rahul Gandhi “is in collusion with anti-India forces” and said that the “games he is playing will never succeed”. He also stated that Rahul Gandhi was attempting to provoke Gen Z, but claimed that “the youth of this country are wise and stand by PM Narendra Modi.”
BJP’s Radhika Khera also countered Gandhi’s ‘Brazilian model’ charge with a jibe on voting by an “Italian woman”, apparently referring to his mother Sonia Gandhi.
“A vote was also cast in Hindustan by an ‘Italian’ woman. Do you know her name??” she wrote in Hindi on X.
What did Rahul Gandhi allege?
Alleging “duplicate, fake and bulk” voting in the Haryana assembly election of 2024 that the BJP won, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi shared on November 5 what he claimed to be the next big set of proofs — dubbed “The H Files” — that the Election Commission is “working at the behest of the ruling BJP to steal votes”.
I want Gen-Z to take this seriously, because your future is being taken away from you,” he said at the press conference at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday, barely a day before voting begins in the Bihar election.
Rahul’s big claim on Haryana assembly polls 2024
The Congress leader claimed there were 25 lakh “fake” voters in Haryana — including an example of a woman he said is a Brazilian model, but her photo is used to register as a voter across multiple booths
The state has around 2 crore total voters, and the key margin of victory for the BJP in eight segments in the 2024 Haryana assembly polls was around 22,000, he said.
“This (data) means one in eight voters in Haryana are fake, that is 12.5%,” he said. “This tells you that when the margin was just 22,000, 25 lakh was just this!”
22,000, 25 lakh was just this!”
Why eight segments? Haryana has 90 seats, of which the BJP won 48 to make history and form the government for a third consecutive term. The Congress fell short of the midway mark of 45 by eight seats, securing 37, despite exit polls indicating a significant edge.
He showed one photo being used for 223 votes in one instance, and claimed another individual voted 22 times across 10 booths in the Haryana assembly election.
