Rahul Gandhi calls 2024 Lok Sabha polls illegal due to voter deletions

UPDATE - follow-up to Kharge moves six charges against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, says 'no personal enmity', BJP accuses Congress of mocking Parliament: Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi claimed the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were illegal because 13.3 crore voter names were deleted from electoral rolls. Speaking at the INDIA bloc's symbolic public impeachment event against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Rajaji Marg, Mr. Gandhi said this deletion count exceeded the 3% vote margin between the Opposition and the BJP-led alliance.

Allegations And Reactions

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge listed six official charges against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of vote theft, deleting 13.2 crore voter names, altering Form 6 without parliamentary approval, seizing electoral rolls via ECINET, sidelining other Election Commissioners, and acting on instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. TMC MP Mahua Moitra alleged that 71% of deleted voters in West Bengal were Muslims and 51% were women, while RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also accused the CEC of orchestrating vote theft. In response, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad criticised the mock Parliament programme as a mockery of constitutional institutions, and BJP MP Sambit Patra defended the voter registration process by stating that only Indian citizens should vote and explaining the ASDD categories used for missing names.

Context

Public impeachment programmes and symbolic mock parliaments are political forms of protest used by opposition parties to draw public attention to institutional grievances when formal parliamentary avenues are blocked. The Election Commission of India manages voter registration lists and electoral rolls across the country, while Form 6 is the official application document used by citizens to register as voters.