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Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, on August 7, strongly refuted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the constituency was “stolen”. He termed the allegation an insult to the people of Bengaluru, especially “thousands of Hindus who voted for the BJP”.
Responding to Rahul’s claim that 1,00,250 votes were fraudulently included in the Mahadevapura assembly segment, Mohan accused the Congress leader of hypocrisy and “communal selectivity”.
Mohan said in a statement, “Rahul Gandhi is alleging vote theft in Mahadevapura, a Hindu-majority seat, not in Shivajinagar, which is minority-dominated. When Hindus vote for the BJP, it’s called fraud. When minorities vote for Congress, it’s called secularism. This hypocrisy won’t fool voters anymore.”
Mohan, a four-time MP who defeated Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan by 32,707 votes, said the BJP’s lead in Mahadevapura reflected a rejection of “dynasty politics, appeasement, and entitlement”, not electoral malpractice.
“The problem is not fraud. The problem is the verdict. The voter is supreme. Rahul Gandhi must accept the mandate,” he said, adding that if Congress believed votes were stolen, it should have filed a court case within 45 days instead of holding a press conference a year later.
Rahul, during a press conference in New Delhi earlier in the day, accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of facilitating voter fraud in Mahadevapura, alleging duplicate entries, fake addresses, bulk registrations, invalid photos, and misuse of Form 6. He cited examples such as 68 voters registered at a Bengaluru brewery, voters listed at non-existent addresses, and individuals registered in multiple states with the same EPIC ID.
According to Rahul, the Congress’s physical verification of voter rolls, stacked over seven feet high, revealed 1,00,250 suspicious entries. He claimed that without Mahadevapura’s votes, Congress would have won Bengaluru Central by over 82,000 votes. He also accused the ECI of obstructing scrutiny by withholding digital voter rolls and restricting access to CCTV footage.
Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan also criticised Mohan for making the issue communal. “Over one lakh fake voters and electoral fraud in your own constituency, and your first response is to play the Hindu-Muslim card? Instead of accountability, you chose communal gaslighting. Typical and shameful,” he said.
While Rahul focused on Bengaluru Central as an example, he claimed similar manipulations took place elsewhere, citing narrow margins in Haryana and multiple BJP victories with less than 33,000 votes. “This is how democracy is being destroyed,” he alleged.