Election Commission Rejects Rahul Gandhi’s Claims of Widespread Fraud in Haryana Polls

New Delhi, November 5: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of large-scale irregularities in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, saying due process was followed and questioning why the party’s own polling agents did not raise objections at the time of voting.

Commission sources challenged Gandhi’s assertion that a single woman — whom he described as a “Brazilian model” — appeared as a voter hundreds of times across multiple booths. “If one individual allegedly voted more than 200 times at two polling booths, why did the Congress polling agent not raise an immediate objection?” an official source asked, stressing that such discrepancies should have been reported at polling stations rather than after results were declared.

Officials also pointed out that final copies of the electoral rolls had been distributed to all recognised political parties well before polling day, providing ample opportunity to flag duplicate names or file appeals. “After the voter list was finalised, copies were handed over to every party. Why were duplicate names not reported or appealed against at that time?” Commission sources said, reiterating that all procedural norms were observed during the election.

The ECI further questioned how the Congress could claim to know voting patterns in a secret ballot system. “If voting is conducted through a secret ballot, how can the Congress allege whom the voters cast their votes for?” the sources asked.

Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi, alleged a systematic and centralised manipulation that he said cost the party victory in Haryana. Gandhi claimed that the Congress — which he said had expected to win 52–62 seats according to polls — lost by roughly 22,000 votes, and accused opponents of orchestrating “fake votes” and “massive manipulation” of postal ballots.

Gandhi repeatedly referenced a purported case in which a woman’s identity appeared 223 times on polling records across 10 different booths. He asserted that the woman in the records was a “Brazilian model” and said such entries formed part of a larger dataset of alleged irregularities, which he described as running into 2.5 million suspect records in the state. He alleged around 93,000 invalid addresses, claimed 25 lakh (2.5 million) votes had been compromised — an allegation he framed as a 12.5% incidence of “fake votes” — and accused the Election Commission of restricting access to voter data.

“I'm questioning the Election Commission and the democratic process with 100 per cent proof,” Gandhi said, urging public attention to what he described as an attack on the electoral system and appealing particularly to young voters. He said his team had cross-checked the data multiple times and that anomalies in postal voting — which, he noted, diverged from trends in ordinary votes — merited a detailed probe.

The ECI, meanwhile, highlighted the limited number of legal challenges filed so far, noting that only 22 election petitions out of 90 Assembly constituencies are currently pending in the High Court — a statistic the Commission presented as evidence that the electoral process in Haryana largely withstood legal scrutiny.

Both the Commission and Congress have framed their claims in strong terms. The ECI emphasised adherence to procedure and the availability of pre-poll data to all parties; Congress said it possesses voluminous evidence of state-level irregularities and has vowed to pursue the matter legally and publicly. At present, the ECI’s rebuttal and the low number of court petitions indicate a formal impasse: Congress has declared it will continue to press its allegations, while election authorities maintain that the process was robust and transparent.