Chandigarh [India], November 10 (HBTV): The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Haryana asked Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to sign and submit an affidavit in connection with his claim that 25 lakh ‘fake’ voters were included in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections.
In an official statement, the Haryana CEO clarified that election results can only be challenged through an Election Petition before the High Court.
‘As far as the conduct of elections is concerned, election results can be questioned only by way of an Election Petition before the Hon’ble High Court. It is understood that during a press conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls,’ the statement said.
The CEO further added, ‘You (Rahul Gandhi) are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated.’
The Election Commission noted that the voter lists had been shared with Congress representatives well in advance of the 2024 polling, but no objections were raised at that time. ‘The latest Electoral Rolls were shared with the representative of the INC as under: Draft Electoral Rolls of 2nd SSR 2024 shared with INC in August 2024, and final Electoral Rolls of 2nd SSR 2024 shared with INC in September 2024,’ the statement added.
The response echoed a similar one earlier issued by the Karnataka CEO following Rahul Gandhi’s press conference in August 2025, in which he alleged a ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes.
Rahul Gandhi had claimed during his press conference that his team possessed ‘clear proof’ of around 25 lakh voters in Haryana being either duplicate, non-existent, or manipulated. ‘We have crystal clear proof that 25 lakh voters (in Haryana) are fake, that they either don’t exist or they are duplicates or are designed in a way for anybody to vote. One in eight voters in Haryana are fake — that’s 12.5 per cent,’ he said.
He further alleged that a woman had voted 22 times across different polling booths under multiple names, using an image of a Brazilian model as her voter photograph. ‘Congress lost the election by 22,000 votes. Who is this lady? She votes 22 times in Haryana, at 10 different polling booths. She has multiple names. That means this is a centralised operation. The lady is a Brazilian model. That’s a stock photograph, and she is one of 25 lakh such records in Haryana,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Election Commission sources pointed out that there were no appeals against the electoral rolls, with only 22 election petitions currently pending in the High Court across 90 assembly seats. They questioned why Congress polling agents did not object at polling stations if they suspected duplicate voters, and whether the party supported or opposed the ongoing Special Intensive Revision process of the voter lists — which removes duplicates, deceased, and shifted voters while verifying citizenship.
(ANI)