Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi accuses Centre and Election Commission of electoral manipulation

NEW DELHI — Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Monday targeted the Centre and the Election Commission of India, accusing them of manipulating the electoral process through a 10-point set of measures aimed at benefiting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a social media post, Gogoi characterised the actions as a coordinated strategy, alleging that practices ranging from voter roll revisions to electoral funding mechanisms were being deployed to influence election outcomes.

The allegations form part of a broader, escalating confrontation between opposition parties and the poll panel over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc have demanded Kumar’s resignation and called for the complete withdrawal of the revision exercise.

Gogoi’s list of 10 alleged irregularities began with the proposed delimitation of constituencies and the SIR exercise, which he claimed involved the deletion of genuine voters alongside the inclusion of fake ones. He also pointed to electoral bonds—anonymous political donations permitted prior to the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling striking down the scheme—asserting the system shielded corporate donors from scrutiny by the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate.

Additional points raised by the Congress leader included the encouragement of splits within opposition parties, the freezing of opposition election symbols, and the preferential transfer and promotion of government officers who complied with the ruling establishment’s directives. His remaining allegations covered legal protections afforded to the Chief Election Commissioner, the scheduling of election campaigns, alleged selective enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct permitting communal remarks and hate speech, faulty electronic voting machines, and the targeted scrutiny of candidates to disqualify opposition nominees.

The dispute has sparked a direct war of words between Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Gandhi recently challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open public debate regarding the SIR exercise.

Responding to the challenge during a rally in Karnal, Haryana, as part of the BJP’s ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ campaign, Shah asked Gandhi to take the discussion to Parliament instead. Shah challenged the Congress leader to face a responsible discussion inside the legislature, stating that Gandhi would be unable to handle the answers and would retreat from the debate.

Gandhi countered Shah’s remarks on X, urging the Home Minister to persuade the Prime Minister to agree to an open debate on any platform and at any time.

Outside the national capital, opposition to the revision exercise has manifested in demonstrations. Activist Abhijeet Dipke of the Cockroach Janata Party staged a protest against the electoral roll revision at Jantar Mantar in Kochi.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission issued fresh directives on Friday to the Chief Electoral Officers of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland. The instructions provide voters categorised under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate classification an additional opportunity to secure the inclusion of their names in the final electoral rolls.