BJP counters ‘vote chori’ with ‘ghuspaithi voters’, allege Sonia Gandhi listed as voter before citizenship

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday responded to Congress’s “vote chori” allegations by accusing opposition leaders of benefiting from irregularities in voter rolls and questioning the timing of Sonia Gandhi’s voter registration. Union Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that “ghuspaithi” (infiltrator) voters played a role in the electoral victories of Congress and its allies, and criticised the party for opposing the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Thakur said the revision process was aimed at removing duplicate and fake entries from the voter list and claimed that Congress’s opposition to it was to safeguard its vote base. He cited examples from constituencies such as Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, represented by Rahul Gandhi; Diamond Harbour in West Bengal, represented by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee; and Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, represented by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Allegations included duplicate voters, fake addresses, manipulated ages, and instances of mass voting.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya separately alleged that Sonia Gandhi’s name was added to the electoral rolls in 1980, three years before she became an Indian citizen and while she still held Italian citizenship. According to him, her name appeared at 1, Safdarjung Road — the official residence of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency rolls during the January 1, 1980 revision, listed at serial number 388 in polling station 145.

Malviya claimed this inclusion violated electoral law, which requires Indian citizenship for voter registration. He said her name was deleted from the rolls in 1982 following objections but reappeared in 1983. “If this isn’t blatant electoral malpractice, what is?” Malviya wrote on social media platform X.

The developments follow Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s August 7 statement accusing the Election Commission of “vote chori” and presenting what he described as evidence of large-scale irregularities. He cited “one crore mystery voters,” missing CCTV footage, and the refusal of the poll body to share voter-related data, pointing to alleged irregularities in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Election Commission has not issued any official response to the allegations from either side.