BJP slams Rahul Gandhi's 'vote theft' claim, cites Chennithala's SIR praise

BJP's CR Kesavan countered Rahul Gandhi's 'vote theft' allegation against the Election Commission's SIR process, highlighting that Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala had praised the same process after winning in the Kerala Assembly elections.

BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi, cites Congress's 'contradiction'

BJP leader CR Kesavan on Friday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his allegations against the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, citing Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala's reported appreciation of the SIR process during the Keralam Assembly elections.

In a post shared on X, Kesavan said Rahul Gandhi's claim that "wherever there is SIR there is vote theft" was contradicted by Chennithala, who he said had praised the process after the Keralam Assembly election results were announced on May 4. "Rahul Gandhi ridiculously claims that wherever there is SIR there is vote theft. On May 4, 2026, when the Kerala Assembly election results were announced, the current Congress Home Minister of Kerala, Mr. Ramesh Chennithala, lauded and appreciated how the SIR process had helped the Congress win by removing bogus votes from the electoral rolls," he said.

Ramesh Chennithala won the Haripad Assembly constituency in the Keralam elections, securing 68,184 votes and defeating his nearest CPI rival by 23,377 votes.

Referring to Gandhi's yesterday's remarks on the SIR process, Kesavan said, "This outrightly debunks and dismisses Rahul Gandhi's press conference yesterday. Will Rahul Gandhi now ask the Congress Home Minister of Kerala to resign for publicly praising SIR? Does Rahul Gandhi think the Kerala Assembly election, which the Congress won, was compromised?"

Kesavan further targeted Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of constitutional institutions. "Whenever Rahul Gandhi's political stock is at its lowest nadir, he blatantly targets constitutional institutions to divert attention. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had given a similar press conference in which he uttered absurdities such as 'hydrogen bomb,' which eventually fizzled out," he said.

"Rahul Gandhi is directly responsible for the Congress party's humiliating defeats in three consecutive Lok Sabha elections and nearly 100 Assembly elections. Yesterday's bitter press conference was nothing but a desperate attempt by Rahul Gandhi to find a scapegoat to pin the blame and escape responsibility for the Congress party's electoral drubbings," Kesavan added.

Rahul Gandhi ridiculously claims that wherever there is SIR there is vote theft. On May 4, 2026, when the Kerala Assembly election results were announced, the current Congress Home Minister of Kerala, Mr. Ramesh Chennithala, lauded and appreciated how the SIR process had helped… pic.twitter.com/twaBjwtrDP — C.R.Kesavan (@crkesavan) September 25, 2026

Rahul Gandhi alleges 'rigged' elections, demands CEC's resignation

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged with "100 per cent certainty" that elections in India, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and several state Assembly elections, had been "rigged". He demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

The Congress leader's remarks came after a report by The Indian Express that said that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process.

Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were "at the top of this conspiracy" and would face investigation. "The first thing we are saying is Mr. Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately... This thing that you have done is an act against the Indian nation... A person who attacks the vote, who fundamentally destroys India's democratic institution, is nothing other than a 'Desh Drohi'," Gandhi said. He also urged the CEC to "turn Approver".

Gandhi argued that the vote, Constitution, laws and institutions form a chain and alleged that the electoral process had been compromised.

EC, BJP dismiss allegations

The Election Commission, however, has rejected the assertion that the objections recorded by the two Election Commissioners represented institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said operational queries, internal feedback and administrative suggestions during the drafting stage were standard practice. The ECI maintained that all final decisions taken by the three-member Commission, including those concerning SIR, were unanimous.

On Thursday, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi dismissed his arguments as recycled and disputed his claims regarding anti-incumbency, while Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended the functioning of the Election Commission and said decisions in the poll panel are taken through majority or consensus.

The controversy over SIR and the Election Commission's internal functioning is expected to come up at the Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled for September 29 in New Delhi.

The Election Commission has said that ECINet is a secure, decentralised digital platform operationalised under the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951. It said statutory duties on ECINet are carried out by designated election officials, including BLOs, AEROs, EROs, DEOs and CEOs, using unique IDs and secure credentials. The poll body began the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls last year as a clean-up exercise, under which electors submitted forms and documents through ECINet for processing by election officials. (ANI)

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