Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday intensified his criticism of the electoral system, claiming that the vote is the foundation of India’s democratic structure. He argued that if votes are compromised, the Constitution, laws and institutions lose their legitimacy. Gandhi also questioned why anti-incumbency appears absent in several recent BJP victories.
Rahul Gandhi says vote is the foundation of the Constitution
Addressing a press conference, Gandhi said, “No matter what happens, we are not going to let this crime go unanswered.”
“The vote is the foundation of our country. And I want to explain this because from the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the vote, the Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws emerge. And from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain, and this chain defines modern India. The thing to understand here is that if the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed, it no longer has its power, it no longer functions. If our Constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. And if our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said.
Congress leader links alleged vote theft to democratic institutions
Gandhi argued that any alleged manipulation of votes affects the entire democratic framework.
“I want to emphasise, from ‘vote chori’ comes ‘kanun chori’. Because if the vote is stolen, the legal structure is gone. And from ‘kanun chori’ comes institutions. And this is the chain that is taking place. Today, the vote is gone, the law-making system is gone. Meaning, if the vote has been stolen and the MPs sitting in Parliament are there based on a stolen vote, then any law they are making is illegal,” he said.
“The central question here is this is not just an attack on the vote; this is an attack on the idea, the basic infrastructure, and the expression of every single Indian person. We have been saying it again and again and again that there is a problem with the vote,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi claims elections are being rigged
He claimed that elections were being manipulated and questioned the integrity of the electoral process. Gandhi said he was “100 per cent sure” that elections were being rigged and argued that the issue goes beyond individual elections to the functioning of India’s democratic institutions. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
“From the vote, which is supposed to be protected by the Election Commission, our Constitution gets its power. From the Constitution, our laws are made, and from our laws emerge our institutions. This is a chain. If the vote has been destroyed, then our Constitution has been destroyed. If our Constitution has been destroyed, our laws are illegal. If our laws are illegal, our institutions are meaningless,” he said.
Questions raised over anti-incumbency in BJP victories
Gandhi also questioned BJP’s victories in states such as Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, arguing that anti-incumbency appears to have disappeared in those contests.
“Haryana swings from one party to another for 50 years. Suddenly anti-incumbency disappears. Maharashtra swings; suddenly it disappears. Uttar Pradesh swings. Sometimes Samajwadi, sometimes BSP; it disappears. Madhya Pradesh, it disappears. Gujarat, it disappears. This has been a fundamental question for us. We can understand the popularity of a person, and the performance of a government, but we cannot understand how anti-incumbency disappears.
Anti-incumbency does not exist in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It does not exist in North Korea. There is no democracy on this planet where anti-incumbency does not exist,” he said.
Why Rahul Gandhi says anti-incumbency matters
The Congress leader argued that anti-incumbency is a natural feature of democratic politics and usually affects all governments over time.
“In India, there is a fundamental force called anti-incumbency that very quickly starts to resist any government. It does not spare anybody. Indira Gandhi won the Bangladesh war, was at the height of her popularity, and then suddenly, within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency, massive pressure. The same exact thing happens to leader after leader after leader. Happens to Congress leaders; it happens to regional parties, but for some reason, it never happens to Mr. Narendra Modi, does not happen to Mr. Shah, does not happen to the BJP,” he said.
