Fix the flaws: On Rahul Gandhi’s ‘stolen elections’ allegation and the Election Commission of India

Editorial Analysis – “Fix the flaws” (The Hindu, Aug 9, 2025)

Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “criminal fraud” in voter registration, alleging large-scale fake votes, particularly in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment (Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat).
Allegations point to systemic flaws in the voter registration process, data transparency, and broader electoral administration.

Multiple registrations of the same voters within a constituency.
Identical EPIC numbers across different States (ECI claims to have addressed this earlier).
Excessive voters at single addresses.
Same person voting multiple times in the same booth.
Pattern allegedly extends to other marginal constituencies.

Demanded “evidence under oath” — legally questionable.
Blamed political parties for not raising issues during registration.
Provides voter data in bulky image PDFs, not searchable text — hampers scrutiny.
Over-reliance on self-declaration in registration; weak verification.

Electoral Roll Integrity
- Need for door-to-door verification (most reliable).
- Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) aims to clean rolls but risks wrongful deletions.
- Higher deletions among women electors — possible marginalisation.
Electoral Administration Gaps
- Lax enforcement of campaign finance rules & MCC.
- Limited VVPAT verification (small samples).
- Weak technical safeguards for EVM/VVPAT symbol loading.
- Refusal to retain CCTV footage from polling stations.
- Delay in final turnout publication.
Institutional Credibility
- Perception of criticism as attack weakens trust.
- Appointment of Election Commissioners still bypasses SC’s recommendation to include CJI in selection panel.