13 Aug 2025 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a tit-for-tat attack on Congress, levelling similar “vote chori (stealing)” allegations as Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) did last week and has also raised questions over timing of the addition of former party president Sonia Gandhi’s name to the voter list.
BJP leader Anurag Thakur, addressing a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that Congress nd other opposition leaders won seats with the help of “ghuspaithi voters (intruder or infiltrator voters)”, a term that appeared to be a counter to Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” charge.
Mounting an attack on Congress for opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls being conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar, Anurag Thakur said the Grand Old Party looks at one group to secure their vote bank and accused it of “appeasement politics”.
Anurag Thakur gave examples of duplicate voters, fake addresses, fake relatives, manipulated age and mass voting in seats like Raebareli, where Rahul Gandhi is an MP from and also in TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat as well as Akhilesh Yadav’s Kannauj constituency.
BJP doubts Sonia Gandhi’s voter list entry
The BJP on Wednesday raised doubts over Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s voter ID, wondering how the name of Rahul Gandhi’s mother and former Congress president was added to the list even before she became an Indian citizen.
“Sonia Gandhi’s tryst with India’s voters’ list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi’s fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR),” said BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya in a post on social media platform X.
Her name first appeared on the rolls in 1980 — three years before she became an Indian citizen and while she still held Italian citizenship, Amit Malviya alleged.
“At the time, the Gandhi family lived at 1, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Until then, the voters registered at that address were Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Maneka Gandhi. In 1980, the electoral rolls of the New Delhi parliamentary constituency were revised with January 1, 1980, as the qualifying date. During this revision, Sonia Gandhi’s name was added, appearing at serial number 388 in polling station 145,” Amit Malviya said.
“This entry was a clear violation of the law, which requires a person to be an Indian citizen to be registered as a voter. Following an outcry in 1982, her name was deleted from the list — only to reappear in 1983,” he added.
“If this isn’t blatant electoral malpractice, what is?” Amit Malviya said.
The entire EC vs Rahul Gandhi episode started after the Congress leader’s press conference of Thursday, August 7, in which he presented what he termed as an “atom bomb” of proofs over poll body resorting to “vote chori”.
Rahul Gandhi particularly cited anomalies in some states like Maharashtra and Karnataka. He spoke of irregularities like “one crore mystery voters,” destruction of CCTV footage, thousands of fake voters, and refusal by the EC to share voter-related data.
Summary:
In a political clash, BJP alleged Congress engaged in illegal voter practices and raised doubts about Sonia Gandhi’s personal voting record, intensifying tensions ahead of upcoming elections.