In one of the most heated Lok Sabha exchanges of the session on electoral reforms, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday launched a sweeping attack on the Congress, particularly the Nehru-Gandhi family, accusing them of “vote chori” (vote theft) dating back to the years immediately after Independence.
His remarks came during a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, in which he sparred repeatedly with the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
Shah asserted that the SIR was a clean-up exercise aimed at identifying and removing infiltrators from voter lists and ensuring they are not allowed to influence India’s democratic process.
He said bluntly, “Will infiltrators decide who will be the Chief Minister or Prime Minister of India?”
Shah’s Charge: ‘Vote Theft Since the Era of Nehru’
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of “vote chori”, Shah offered historical counterexamples:
On Jawaharlal Nehru
Shah recalled the internal Congress election before Independence, where state units preferred Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for party president.
He alleged that Nehru rose to the top through “vote chori,” paving his way to the Prime Minister’s chair.
On Indira Gandhi
He invoked the Allahabad High Court verdict (1975) that declared Indira Gandhi’s 1971 Rae Bareli election invalid due to “corrupt electoral practices”—another example, he said, of “vote chori.”
He noted that to shield herself, Indira Gandhi amended the law to ensure the Prime Minister could not be held liable in similar cases.
On Sonia Gandhi
Shah also mentioned an ongoing case in a Delhi court questioning whether Sonia Gandhi was entered into the voter rolls before she became an Indian citizen, clarifying that he was merely stating facts and leaving the matter to the judiciary.
‘Congress Lost Not Because of EVMs, But Because of Its Leadership’
Shah rejected the Congress’s repeated claims that EVM tampering caused its electoral defeats.
He asked:
“We have won 44 elections since 2014, and they have won 30. If the voter list is corrupt, why did you take the oath after winning those elections?”
He reminded the Opposition that Rajiv Gandhi introduced EVMs, and they were used nationwide in 2004—after which the Congress won two Lok Sabha elections.
He pointed out that Congress refused the EC’s open challenge to hack an EVM in 2017.
He said:
“In your time, ballot boxes were stolen. EVMs ended that theft. Now you blame EVMs only because you are losing.”
Electoral Roll Revision: A Long-Standing Practice
Shah defended the SIR exercise, citing historical precedent:
Special revisions were conducted without objection in:
- 1952, 1957, 1961 (Nehru)
- 1965–66 (Lal Bahadur Shastri)
- 1983–84 (Indira Gandhi)
- 1987–89 (Rajiv Gandhi)
- 1993–95 (Narasimha Rao)
- 2002–04 (Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Manmohan Singh)
He said Congress had never opposed SIRs earlier because they helped keep elections clean.
The need today, he said, was greater than ever because after a 2010 Election Commission decision barring returning officers from deleting names, anomalies multiplied—dead voters, migrants, and even multiple entries for the same person.
Shah cited cases involving Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who reportedly had multiple names on rolls.
On EC’s Authority and Immunity
Addressing Rahul Gandhi’s question on the legal immunity granted to the Election Commission, Shah said the provision already existed in the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
He clarified:
“Clause 32 of the RPA Act provides immunity. We simply repeated it. EC officials cannot be sued for performing electoral duties.”
He also explained why the CJI was not included in the appointment committee for the Chief Election Commissioner:
In 2023, a law was enacted forming a panel with the Prime Minister, a minister nominated by the PM, and the LoP—a departure from decades when the PM alone appointed the EC under Congress governments.
He reminded the House of the controversial appointment of Navin Chawla, whose Emergency-era record had invited objections.
On CCTV Footage Retention
Rahul Gandhi questioned why CCTV footage of polling stations must be deleted after 45 days.
Shah replied that since 1991, candidates were allowed 45 days to file an election petition.
The EC merely aligned the CCTV rule with that timeline, and courts can order preservation if needed.
He warned that allowing unrestricted access requests for CCTV footage from millions of booths would cripple the EC’s functioning.
On Infiltrators and the Opposition Walkout
As the Opposition staged a walkout before he concluded, Shah remarked:
“They did not walk out when I spoke about Nehru or Indira.
They walked out when I spoke about infiltrators. The country has been partitioned once—we do not want another Partition.”
He said if the Opposition continued resisting SIR, it would lose West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the way it lost Bihar, as the revised rolls would expose illegal voters and infiltration networks.