BJP Hits Back At Congress, Cites ‘Ghuspaithi Voters’ And Sonia Gandhi Voter ID Row

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has countered Congress' allegations of electoral misconduct by levelling similar "vote chori" (vote theft) charges and raising concerns over the timeline of Sonia Gandhi's entry into India's voter list.

Taking aim at Congress for opposing the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Union Minister Anurag Thakur accused the party of practicing "appeasement politics" and relying on a specific community to secure votes. He claimed that instances of duplicate voters, fake addresses, fabricated family links, manipulated ages, and mass voting had been observed in constituencies such as Raebareli - represented by Rahul Gandhi - as well as Diamond Harbour, held by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, and Akhilesh Yadav's Kannauj seat.

On Wednesday, the BJP also raised pointed questions about Sonia Gandhi's voter registration. "Sonia Gandhi's association with India's electoral rolls is marred by glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi's eagerness to legitimise ineligible and illegal voters, along with his opposition to the SIR exercise," BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya wrote on X.

Malviya alleged that Sonia Gandhi's name first appeared on the rolls in 1980 - three years before she acquired Indian citizenship - while she was still an Italian citizen. At the time, the Gandhi family lived at 1, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Until then, registered voters at that address included Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Maneka Gandhi. During the revision of the electoral rolls for the New Delhi parliamentary constituency with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date, Sonia Gandhi's name was added, appearing at serial number 388 in polling station 145, Malviya said.

"This was a direct breach of the law, which clearly requires Indian citizenship for voter registration. Following public uproar in 1982, her name was removed from the list - only to be reinserted in 1983," he added. "If this isn't blatant electoral malpractice, then what is?" Malviya remarked.

This escalation in the BJP-Congress war of words follows Rahul Gandhi's August 7 press conference, where he unveiled what he described as an "atom bomb" of evidence alleging that the poll body was engaged in "vote chori." Rahul Gandhi highlighted discrepancies in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, including "one crore mystery voters," destruction of CCTV footage, thousands of fake voters, and the Election Commission's refusal to release voter-related data.